Printed multifunctional magnetically activated energy harvester with sensing capabilities

Abstract

The exponential growth and ubiquitous use of mobile electronics supported by the Internet of Things (IoT) is leading to an increasing need of self-powered wearable electronic devices. In particular, converting electrical energy from magnetic fields is very appealing for the development of a sustainable power sources/sensing tools. Magneto-mechano-electric energy conversion is an effective way to convert magnetic fields into electricity for low power applications. The successful printing of such materials allows the design of customized structures, improved integration into devices and reduced materials waste. Here, a self-powered printed sensing device is presented, by exploiting piezoelectric/magnetic composites in response to magnetic stimuli via magneto-mechano-electric energy conversion. The printed magnetoactive device has the capabilities of harvesting magnetic energy with maximum output power density of 9.7 mW cm3 as well as detecting magnetic fields with a r2 of 0.9991 and a sensitivity of 30 V T1. Such sensing/harvesting performance allied to the Bluetooth connectivity offer great potential for applications in wearable electronics devices and IoT-related applications.