Reduction in piezoelectric voltage generation for the cerium doped nickel ferrite nanoparticles filled PVDF-HFP nanocomposites

This paper describes the synthesis of grape cluster shaped nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) and cerium doped nickel ferrite (Ce-NiFe2O4) nanoparticles by chemical co-precipitation and their addition to poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoroproplyene) (PVDF-HFP) through solution mixing. The electrospun fiber mats of the PVDF-HFP nanocomposites are tested mainly for the piezoelectric output voltage along with the magnetic and dielectric properties. While the PVDF-HFP/NiFe2O4 nanofibers exhibit a peak to peak output voltage of 5 V, the PVDF-HFP/Ce-NiFe2O4 composite generates 3 V, at the same filler concentration of 2 wt%. The respective saturation magnetization values for the NiFe2O4 and Ce-NiFe2O4 filled PVDF-HFP, as 45.5 and 30.15 emu/g also suggest the crystal defects, weaker dipole moments and the lower stability for the Ce-doped NiFe2O4 containing nanocomposites.