The special features of multiferroic materials i.e. the coexistence of more than one primary ferroic ordering with the magnetoelectric coupling, enable the application potentiality of these materials in numerous technological devices such as sensors, transducers, actuators, datastorage and energy harvesting devices [1-3]. but, the simultaneous presence of these ferroic orderings is very difficult to achieve in a single phase material due to mutually incompatible existence criteria and the microscopic mechanisms responsible for ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism. however, some exceptional single phase materials are reported with a very low value of magnetoelectric coupling coefficients. so, continuous effort is being made by the material scientists to create novel multiferroic composites with rich multifunctional characteristics either by modifying or combining two different ceramics with different physical properties (i.e. one with ferroelectric/piezoelectric phase and other have magnetic phase to achieve the product/desired property) of the materials [4-6]. apart from these multiferroic composites, polymer based multiferroic composites have attracted tremendous attention of contemporary material researchers due to their design flexibility, higher breakdown strength, shape moldable and good mechanical properties and can be synthesized by low temperature synthesis/processing routes. on the other hand, a continuous trend of device miniaturization with improved characteristics and enormous technological potential triggered a growing interest of scientific communities towards the study of nanomaterials. so, polymer based nanocomposites may have an exciting future role to play in multiferroics for improved device functionality. the recent advancement and the vast application potentiality of polymer based material motivate us to develop smart polymer based flexible materials. pvdf (poly (vinylidene fluoride)) and pdms (polydimethylsiloxane) based polymers have been broadly studied for sensors and energy storage device applications [7, 8]. two different categories of polymer such as pvdf (thermoplastics) and pdms (elastomer) are selected as the host polymer. pvdf has studied enormously due to its high piezoelectric coefficient, excellent stability, desirable flexibility, stretchability, cost effectiveness and biocompatible nature. similarly, pdms has low cost, tunable dielectric properties, can be repeatedly strained up to 100%.but, in some situations the spontaneous polarization and piezoelectric parameters do not meet the requirement of real applications. so, some ferroelectric ceramics (such as batio3,pzt etc.) are added as filler materials to improve their properties for practical applications [9]. in the present investigation, it is proposed/planned to prepare flexible polymer composites using pvdf and pdms as host polymer and different weight (wt.%) of ferroelectric (such as batio3 and na0.5bi0.5tio3, bzt-bct etc.) and magnetic (dyfeo3)/type ii multiferroics (dymno3 or tbmno3) material in nanoscale will be preferred as filler. the developed flexible polymer based materials will be characterized first to select the most suitable compositions/materials to further tailor the materials for potential applications.
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