Assembly of 1D nanofibers into a 2D bi-layered composite nanofibrous film with different functionalities at the two layers via layer-by-layer electrospinning

Abstract

A two-dimensional (2D) bi-layered composite nanofibrous film assembled by one-dimensional (1D) nanofibers with trifunctionality of electrical conduction, magnetism and photoluminescence has been successfully fabricated by layer-by-layer electrospinning. The composite film consists of a polyaniline (PANI)/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle (NP)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) tuned electrical–magnetic bifunctional layer on one side and a Tb(TTA)₃(TPPO)₂/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) photoluminescent layer on the other side, and the two layers are tightly combined face-to-face together into the novel bi-layered composite film of trifunctionality. The brand-new film has totally different characteristics at the double layers. The electrical conductivity and magnetism of the electrical–magnetic bifunctional layer can be, respectively, tunable via modulating the PANI and Fe₃O₄ NP contents, and the highest electrical conductivity can reach up to the order of 10⁻² S cm⁻¹, and predominant intense green emission at 545 nm is obviously observed in the photoluminescent layer under the excitation of 357 nm single-wavelength ultraviolet light. More importantly, the luminescence intensity of the photoluminescent layer remains almost unaffected by the electrical–magnetic bifunctional layer because the photoluminescent materials have been successfully isolated from dark-colored PANI and Fe₃O₄ NPs. By comparing with the counterpart single-layered composite nanofibrous film, it is found that the bi-layered composite nanofibrous film has better performance. The novel bi-layered composite nanofibrous film with trifunctionality has potential in the fields of nanodevices, molecular electronics and biomedicine. Furthermore, the design conception and fabrication technique for the bi-layered multifunctional film provide a new and facile strategy towards other films of multifunctionality.