The preparation and characterization of 1D multiferroic BFO/P(VDF-TrFE) composite nanofibers using electrospinning

In this work, one-dimensional (1D) multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO) and poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] composite nanofibers are fabricated by using a two-step sol-gel based electrospinning method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study reveals that crystalline phases corresponding to both BiFeO3 and P(VDF-TrFE) are found. Microstructure measurement shows that the nanofibers are alignment and BFO nanorods are well-dispersed in the P(VDF-TrFE) fiber matrix. The coexistence of electric and magnetic hysteresis for the composite materials also has been observed successfully at room temperature. It indicates that such nanofibers would perform a wide range of potential applications in flexibility information storage, magnetic recording media, spintronics devices and sensors. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.