Multiferroic materials with coexisting of at least two
ferroic
orders (ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, or ferroelastic) have recently
attracted the interest of researchers due to their potential applications
as multifunctional devices. Herein, we report the synthesis and detailed
characterization of the multiferroic CoFe2O4–Ba0.95Ca0.05Ti0.89Sn0.11O3 core–shell nanofibers (CFO@BCTSn NFs)
prepared by a sol–gel coaxial electrospinning technique. The
scanning and transmission electron microscopes were used to check
nanofibers’ core–shell structure/configuration, with
fiber diameters ranging from 150 to 250 nm. The X-ray diffraction
analysis confirms the presence of both the spinel structure of the
CFO and the perovskite structure of the BCTSn. Piezoresponse force
microscopy and magnetic hysteresis were used to confirm the multiferroicity
of CFO@BCTSn NFs. Notably, the maximum magnetization and remanent
magnetization of NFs are found to be 11.63 emu g–1 and 1.43 emu g–1, respectively. Meanwhile, the
maximum piezoelectric response d
33
eff is around 6 pm V–1. The magnetoelectric
(ME) coefficient obtained for the CFO@BCTSn NFs is 346 mV cm–1 Oe–1 at the field of 10 kG. These findings may
lead to development of nanoscale Pb-free magnetic field sensors and
magnetoelectric device applications.