Optically tunable magnetoelectric properties of inorganic-organic multiferroic flexible film

Abstract

Magnetoelectric composites are promising materials for their physical properties such as spontaneous electrical polarization or magnetization with the application of magnetic or electric field. In addition, Spinel ferrite based magnetoelectric composite materials absorb a range of light energy, which offers a lot of physical phenomena behind the light-dependent magnetoelectric properties of the composite. The piezoelectric organic polymer based magnetoelectric composite of Zn0.2Co0.8Fe2O4-poly(vinylidene fluoride) flexible film has been fabricated by a chemical pyrophoric reaction process followed by a solution casting process. Structural and surface morphologies of the composite film have been studied. The visible light and applied magnetic field dependent AC electrical properties of the composite flexible film have been investigated at room temperature which reveals that the maximum change in impedance is found to be ∼10% and ∼20%, respectively. However, with an influence of both the light and the magnetic field, the impedance of the composite film is largely changed attributing that the excited electron may get a low resistive path through the grain and grain boundaries where the maximum change in impedance is found to be ∼30%. This result further is confirmed from the change of grain and grain boundary resistance and capacitance through the fitting of Nyquist plots. The present work provides information about the optically and magnetically influenced physical properties of the composite flexible film, which will be expanded for multiferroic magnetoelectric device applications.