Flexible ribbon-shaped coaxial electrical conductive nanocable array endowed with magnetism and photoluminescence

Abstract

A new type of flexible [Fe₃O₄/polyaniline (PANI)/PMMA]@[Tb(BA)₃phen/PMMA] ribbon-shaped coaxial conductive nanocable array possessing conductivity, magnetism and photoluminescence has been successfully fabricated by electrospinning technology using a specially designed coaxial spinneret. Every single ribbon-shaped coaxial nanocable in the array is assembled with a Fe₃O₄/PANI/PMMA electric conductive-magnetic bifunctional core with tunable width and a Tb(BA)₃phen/PMMA insulating photoluminescent sheath. All the ribbon-shaped coaxial nanocables are insulated with each other and arranged in array alignment. The conductivity of the core of each ribbon-shaped coaxial nanocable reaches up to the order of 10⁻² S cm⁻¹, and the electric conductance of each single ribbon-shaped coaxial conductive nanocable can be calculated by formula and available experimental data. The ribbon-shaped coaxial nanocable array is simultaneously endowed with magnetic and photoluminescent characteristics for improving controllability and visibility. The electrical conductivity, magnetic and photoluminescent properties of ribbon-shaped coaxial nanocable arrays can be tunable by adjusting the contents of PANI and Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles and rare earth complexes, or by varying the width of the cores of every ribbon-shaped coaxial nanocable in the array. This nanostructure is ideally suited to be applied in high density electrical connections in narrow spaces, such as in mobile phones, subminiature integrated circuits, microchips and nano-machines.