A single nanobelt to achieve simultaneous photoluminescence–electricity–magnetism trifunction

In order to develop new-typed multifunctional composite nanobelts, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is used as the matrix to construct composite nanobelts containing different amounts of Eu(BA)₃phen(BA = benzoic acid, phen = phenanthroline), polyaniline (PANI) and Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs), and Eu(BA)₃phen/PANI/Fe₃O₄/PMMA trifunctional composite nanobelts with simultaneous photoluminescence, electricity and magnetism have been successfully fabricated via electrospinning technology. The morphology and properties of the obtained composite nanobelts were characterized by X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, fluorescence spectroscopy and Hall effect measurement system. The results indicate that the trifunctional composite nanobelts simultaneously possess excellent photoluminescence, electrical conduction and magnetic properties. Fluorescence emission peaks of Eu³⁺ ions in the composite nanobelts are observed and assigned to the energy levels transitions of ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₀ (580 nm), ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₁ (593 nm) and ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₂ (615 nm) of Eu³⁺ ions, and the ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₂ hypersensitive transition at 615 nm is the predominant emission peak. The electrical conductivity reaches up to the order of 10⁻³ S/cm. Furthermore, the luminescent intensity, electrical conductivity and saturation magnetization of the composite nanobelts can be tunable by adjusting amounts of Eu(BA)₃phen, PANI and Fe₃O₄ NPs. The formation mechanism of the composite nanobelts is also proposed. The obtained photoluminescence–electricity–magnetism trifunctional composite nanobelts have potential applications in many areas such as electromagnetic interference shielding, microwave absorption, molecular electronics, biomedicine and future nanomechanics. More importantly, the design concept and construct technique are of universal significance to fabricate other trifunctional naonobelts.