HoFeO₃-BaTiO₃ Nanofiber Heterostructure: Impressive Nanogenerator Performance

HoFeO₃-BaTiO₃ (HFO-BTO)<b> </b>nanofiber multiferroic heterostructure showcase fascinating properties due to the coexistence of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic ordering. The nanofiber heterostructure is synthesized by combining the ferromagnetic component HoFeO₃, and the ferroelectric component BaTiO₃ via the electrospinning technique. The heterostructure exhibits phase fraction 3:7 of orthorhombic (Pbnm) HFO: tetragonal (P4mm) BTO. The heterostructure indicates the possibility of tunable magnetic and ferroelectric properties by tuning the phase fraction. Inclusion of HFO-BTO heterostructure into PDMS renders impressive nanogenerator performance. This trait in the heterostructure indicates that three main factors namely structure, morphology, and composition play crucial role in tuning the properties of the compound: (i) Structure: orthorhombic and tetragonal mixed phase contributes to the distortion of TiO6 octahedra in heterostructure: in-plane O–Ti–O angle sharply decreases as Ti atom shifts from inversion centre, giving rise to greater ferroelectric polarization. The increase in average Fe–O–Fe angle in heterostructure is 141° as compared to uncoupled HFO (139°), affects the Fe–O–Fe exchange coupling (ii) Morphology: the nanofiber heterostructure has (a) the interface induces strain field due to interface of BTO and HFO, and (b) the surface- induced strain field intrinsically present in nano-systems due to large aspect ratio (iii) Composition: The ferroelectric BTO and ferromagnetic HFO parent compounds are stabilised in heterostructure and exhibit enhanced magnetic and ferroelectric properties as compared to the individual parent compounds. Under the influence of electric as well as mechanical field, the response of HFO-BTO heterostructure based nanogenerator is superior in terms of polarization, output voltage, current density and power density.