Development of novel piezo-ionic/magnetostrictive composites for energy generation systems

Novel piezo-ionic/magnetostrictive bi-layer composites for new energy generation devices are presented. These structures, fabricated with Metglas® 2826MB ferromagnetic alloys and ionic liquid based PVDF-HFP polymer composites, show an induced electric response as a consequence of the coupling between the magnetostrictive properties of the Metglas® 2826MB and the piezo-ionic ones of the ionic liquid based PVDF-HFP polymer composites. These flexible, simple and low cost structures do not need to be polarized to exhibit an electric response, and show an increased induced voltage as the percentage of the ionic liquid in the PVDF-HFP matrix does. This response is a consequence of the asymmetric deformation caused by the magnetostrictive material on the piezo-ionic composite, which induces a non-uniform distribution of the cations and anions in the polymer matrix. The laminates present a maximum response under the application of a low magnetic fields of 9 Oe, and a normalized magneto-ionic coefficient values up to 550 mV cm−1.Oe for the structure with an ionic liquid content of 30 %. These values are even higher than others obtained with piezoelectric materials based ME composites. The simple fabrication process and potentiality of these new piezo-ionic/magnetostrictive laminates contributes to broaden and improve the state of the art of the energy generation systems.