Investigation of the effect of spin crossover on the static and dynamic properties of mems microcantilevers coated with nanocomposite films of [fe(Htrz)2(trz)](bf4)@p(vdf-trfe)

Abstract

We used a spray-coating process to cover silicon microcantilevers with ca. 33 wt% [Fe(Htrz)2 (trz)](BF4)@P(VDF70-TrFE30 ) nanocomposite thin films of 1500 nm thickness. The bi-layer cantilevers were then used to investigate the thermomechanical properties of the composites through a combined static and dynamic flexural analysis. The out-of-plane flexural resonance frequencies were used to assess the Young’s modulus of the spray-coated films (3.2 GPa). Then, the quasi-static flexural bending data allowed us to extract the actuation strain (1.3%) and an actuation stress (7.7 MPa) associated with the spin transition in the composite.