Electricity–magnetism and color-tunable trifunction simultaneously assembled into one strip of flexible microbelt via electrospinning

• Electricity, magnetism and tunable color were integrated into one strip of microbelt.
• Impact of Fe3O4 NPs and PANI on luminescent color was studied for the first time.
• Photoluminescence and fluorescent color of the microbelts can easily be tuned.
• Magnetism and electrical conductance of the microbelts can be tuned.
• Design conception and construction technology are of universal significance.

For the purpose of developing new-typed multifunctional composite microbelts, novel color-tunable composite microbelts endowed with simultaneously tuned electricity–magnetism performance have been successfully fabricated via facile one-pot electrospinning technology. The obtained trifunctional composite microbelts are composed of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as the matrix, Tb(BA)3phen and Eu(BA)3phen (BA = benzoic acid, phen = phenanthroline) complex as luminescence materials, Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) as magnetic materials and polyaniline (PANI) as electrically conductive material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), 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/Fe3O4/PMMA composite microbelts. The results indicate that the trifunctional composite microbelts possess excellent fluorescence, saturation magnetization and electrical conduction. The emitting color of the composite microbelts can be tuned by adjusting the mass ratios of Tb(BA)3phen, Eu(BA)3phen, Fe3O4 and PANI in a wide color range of red–yellow–green under the excitation of 306-nm single-wavelength ultraviolet light. The electrical conductivity and saturation magnetization of the composite microbelts can be respectively tunable by adding various amounts of PANI and Fe3O4 NPs. The trifunctional composite microbelts are expected to possess many potential applications in areas such as full-color display, electromagnetic shielding, molecular electronics, anti-counterfeit materials and biomedicine.

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