Structure, morphology and crystallization behavior of PVDF/Co nanowire nanocomposites under horizontal and vertical magnetic fields

Abstract

So far, very limited research has been carried out on the fabrication of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composited with anisotropic magnetic nanostructures such as nanowires or nanorods, which can potentially provide specific reactions to magnetic fields. Here, single crystal Co nanowires (CNWs) with an average length and diameter of about 220 and 12 nm, respectively, are synthesized using a solvothermal method, followed by adding them to PVDF matrix in order to prepare flexible PVDF/CNW nanocomposites by solvent casting and solution crystallization processes at room temperature. The nucleation and growth of PCNW nanocomposites are investigated in the absence and presence of horizontal and vertical magnetic fields. According to FESEM images, in addition to the direction of the applied magnetic field, the presence or absence of CNWs induces different effects on the size of spherulites and the configuration of polymer chains. By adding CNW to the PVDF matrix in the absence of a magnetic field and under a horizontal magnetic field, the size of the spherulites in the pure PVDF film increases about 67 % (from 3 to 5 μm) and 300 % (from 3 to 12 μm), respectively. Under a vertical magnetic field, the addition of CNW reduces the size of the spherulites to 1 μm, thereby forming a film with a combination of spherulites and filamentary structure likely due to the nanowire-nanowire, nanowire-chain and chain-chain interactions. Also non-contact flexible triboelectric nanogenerators of magnetic force are fabricated.