Improving Magnetoelectric Contactless Sensing and Actuation through Anisotropic Nanostructures

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 122; no. 33; pp. 19189 - 19196
• Main Authors: Fernandes, M. M, Mora, H, Barriga-Castro, E. D, Luna, C, Mendoza-Reséndez, R, Ribeiro, C, Lanceros-Mendez, S, Martins, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 23.08.2018
• Subjects: Science & Technology
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b04910

Flexible polymer-based magnetoelectric (ME) materials are developed based on novel CoFe2O4(CoFO) nanoellipsoids and poly­[vinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene] [P­(VDF-TrFE)]. The synthesized noncytotoxic CoFO nanoellipsoids (270 nm × 50 nm) show high magnetization, ≈170 emu·g–1, high magnetostriction, ≈300 ppm, and magnetic anisotropy that, coupled to the piezoelectric response of P­(VDF-TrFE), |d 33| = 21 ± 1 pC·N–1, lead to an interfacial ME coupling (α) of 1.50 mV·cm–1·Oe–1. Further, nanoellipsoid orientation within the polymer matrix allows an anisotropic ME response of the CoFO/P­(VDF-TrFE) composite. Such a response is dependent on the angle between the dc magnetic field direction and the nanoellipsoids length direction. The proposed mechanism for the anisotropic behavior allows the tailoring of the ME response to contactless sensing applications.