Novel flexible belt-shaped coaxial microcables with tunable multicolor luminescence, electrical conductivity and magnetism

Abstract

A novel type of flexible [Fe₃O₄/PANI/PMMA]@{[Eu(BA)₃phen + Tb(BA)₃phen]/PMMA} (PMMA = polymethyl methacrylate, BA = benzoic acid, phen = phenanthroline, PANI = polyaniline) belt-shaped coaxial microcable possessing electrical conductivity, magnetism and color-tunable photoluminescence has been successfully fabricated by electrospinning technology using a specially designed coaxial spinneret. Every strip of belt-shaped coaxial microcable is assembled with a Fe₃O₄/PANI/PMMA electrically conductive -magnetic bifunctional core and a [Eu(BA)₃phen + Tb(BA)₃phen]/PMMA insulative and photoluminescence-tunable shell. The conductivity of the core of belt-shaped coaxial microcables reaches up to the order of 10⁻² S cm⁻¹ and all belt-shaped coaxial microcables are insulated from each other. The tuning of emission color is possible by changing the Eu³⁺/Tb³⁺ molar ratio of the belt-shaped coaxial microcables. The electrical conductivity, magnetic and photoluminescence properties of belt-shaped coaxial microcables can be tuned by adjusting the content of PANI, Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) and rare earth complexes. More importantly, the proposed design idea and the construction technique are universal regarding the preparation of other multifunctional one-dimensional micromaterials.