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

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2015 Sep 14;17(34):21845-55. doi: 10.1039/c5cp03185k. Epub 2015 Aug 3.

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 Eu(3+)/Tb(3+) 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.