A single flexible nanofiber to obtain simultaneous tunable color-electricity bifunctionality

For the purpose of developing new-typed multifunctional composite nanofibers, novel composite nanofibers with tunable color-electricity bifunctionality have been successfully fabricated via facile one-pot electrospinning technology. The obtained bifunctional composite nanofibers are composed of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as the matrix, Tb(BA)₃phen and Eu(BA)₃phen (BA = benzoic acid, phen = phenanthroline) as luminescence materials and polyaniline (PANI) as conductive material. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, fluorescence spectroscopy and Hall effect measurement system are used to characterize the morphology structure and properties of the [Tb(BA)₃phen + Eu(BA)₃phen]/PANI/PVP composite nanofibers. The results indicate that the bifunctional composite nanofibers possess excellent photo luminescence and electrical conduction. The emitting color of the luminescent composite nanofibers can be tuned by adjusting the mass ratios of Tb(BA)₃phen, Eu(BA)₃phen and PANI in a wide color range of red-yellow-green under the excitation of 297-nm single-wavelength ultraviolet light. The electrical conductivity reaches up to the order of 10⁻⁴ S/cm. The luminescent intensity and electrical conductivity of the composite nanofibers can be tunable by adding various amounts of Tb(BA)₃phen, Eu(BA)₃phen and PANI. The bifunctional composite nanofibers are expected to possess many potential applications in areas such as color display, electromagnetic shielding, molecular electronics and biomedicine.