Nickel ferrite embedded polyvinylidene fluoride composite based flexible magneto-electric systems

Developing flexible multiferroic composite with magnetoelectric coupling is highly desirable for the wearable electronic devices, magnetic field sensors, actuators, energy harvesters and memory devices. Here, a flexible artificial multiferroic composite was fabricated using ferromagnetic nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) nanoparticles (NPs) as filler in the ferroelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies revealed the formation of the inverse spinel phase in NiFe2O4 NPs. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and XRD measurements showed an increase in the magnetic moment and the electroactive beta phase fraction, respectively, in PVDF/NiFe2O4 composite with the increasing loading concentration of NiFe2O4 filler NPs. With the increase in NiFe2O4 NPs loading concentration to 40 wt % the magnetoelectric coupling between the ferroelectric (PVDF) and ferromagnetic (NiFe2O4 NPs) was confirmed using magnetocapacitance measurement. This work successfully demonstrates the potential of artificial multi-ferroic PVDF/NiFe2O4 composite system, with enhanced dielectric property and room temperature magnetoelectric coupling, for future flexible electronic devices.