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)

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 bilayer 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.