In this work, the nanocomposite thin films show substantial magnetoelectric coupling at room temperature. The piezoelectric properties

of P(VDF-HFP) and ferrimagnetic properties of CoFe2O4 nanocrystals are ideal and complimentary in this respect, resulting an observable magnetoelectric selleckchem coupling. Conclusions Crystalline ultrafine CFO with a relatively narrow size distribution from 8 to 18 nm were dispersed in a P(VDF-HFP) copolymer host, forming 0–3 particulate type magnetoelectric nanocomposite thin films. The resulting films exhibit composition-dependent effective permittivity and loss. Following full structural characterization, the magnetic properties of the pure CoFe2O4 nanoparticles were studied and it was confirmed that the saturation magnetization and ZFC/FC curves demonstrate typical ferrimagnetic behavior. By selleck comparing the P(VDF-HFP) and PVP samples, a clear difference in the behavior of the nanocomposite films with respect to effective permittivity and saturation magnetization is observed, highlighting the difference between the use of the ferroelectric polymer and the non-ferroelectric polymer. A magnetoelectric

coupling is believed to be observed in the case of CFO/P(VDF-HFP). The origin of the magnetoelectric coupling is attributed to strong elastic interactions between the electric and magnetic phases. The nanocomposite, given its room temperature properties, is an interesting candidate magnetoelectric material with applications in smart devices such as sensors. Acknowledgments This project was supported by the Advanced Research Project Agency for Energy (ARPA-e), ADEPT DE-AR0000114 and Rebamipide the National Science Foundation under

award NSF CMMI #1014777. The work was partially funded by the Center for Exploitation of Nanostructures in Sensors and Energy Systems, City College of New York, under NSF Cooperative Agreement award number 0833180. TEM work was supported by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Science, Division of Materials Science and Engineering under contract number DE-AC02-98CH10886 and was carried out, in part, at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Stephen O’Brien acknowledges support from the Columbia-CCNY NSF MIRT, #1122594. References 1. Wang J, Neaton JB, Zheng H, Nagarajan V, Ogale SB, Liu B, Viehland D, Vaithyanathan V, Schlom DG, Waghmare UV, Spaldin NA, Rabe KM, Wuttig M, Ramesh R: Epitaxial BiFeO 3 multiferroic thin film heterostructures. Science (New York, NY) 2003, 299:1719–1722.CrossRef 2. Lee S, Pirogov A, Han J, Park J-G, Hoshikawa A, Kamiyama T: Direct observation of a coupling between spin, lattice and electric dipole moment in multiferroic YMnO 3 . Phys Rev B 2005, 71:180413.CrossRef 3.