Materials Today
ResearchEnergy transduction ferroic materials
Graphical abstract
Ferroic materials and multiferroics, characterized by their ferroic orders, provide an efficient route for the coupling control of magnetic, mechanical, and electrical subsystems in energy transduction, which aims at converting one form of energy into another. A surge of interest in the ferroic coupling effect has stemmed from its potential use as a new versatile route for energy transduction. Here, the recent progress on the use of (multi)ferroic materials is reviewed, with special emphasis on the fundamental mechanisms that dictate the energy transduction process. Research on energy transduction ferroic materials paves the way for ubiquitous energy harvesting through magneto-mechano-electric-thermal coupling mechanisms. Finally, a summary and the future prospective directions of this field are discussed.
Introduction
Ferroic materials, such as ferroelectrics, ferromagnetics, and ferroelastics, are characterized by a wealth of intriguing physical properties, which have been an intensive subject for contemporary materials science and a wide range of energy-critical technologies [1], [2], [3], [4]. Ferroic orders are usually related to physical characteristics changing over a narrow temperature range, and the corresponding ferroic and multiferroic materials can be classified as single-phase or composite materials on the basis of material selection and chemical composition (as differentiated by organic and inorganic phases) [5]. According to the ‘ferroic’ order parameters, ferroic materials are usually divided into several subjects, such as ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, or ferroelasticity, in which the ferroic and their coupling interactions can enable energy transduction and stimuli-controlled multi-functionalities across different energy domains, converting one of their properties into the one in another form [6], [7]. The mechanisms for harvesting these ubiquitous energy sources have attracted significant interest, which could enable the development of new-generation power generators [8], [9]. As shown in Figure 1, the electric polarization P (magnetization M) in ferroelectric (ferromagnetic) materials can be controlled by the magnetic field H (electric field E) through the coupling effect, with the coefficient of αH (αE) [10], [11], [12]. The relationship is also suitable for the of stress field (σ) and order parameter strain (ε), in ferroelastic materials.
Energy transduction studies of ferroics have become a prominent subject over the past few decades [13]. Energy transduction is the process to transform one form of energy to another. The ambient environment is filled with thermal heat [14], low-frequency weak magnetic noise, and acoustic or seismic vibrations [15]. The magneto-mechano-electric-thermal coupling in ferroic materials enables the possibility of energy transduction, in which ferroic materials can be “fed” by the “fuel” of vibrations and electromagnetic sources from the environment [16]. Due to their ability to simultaneously control magnetic, mechanical, and electric subsystems [17], ferroic materials can, therefore, scavenge the sources from ambient surroundings and convert them to specified types of energy, targeting applications that promote cost savings, miniaturization, and energy-efficiency, such as electric power sources for internal cardiac pacemakers in the medical field [18]. In recent years, a number of outstanding researchers have reviewed such promising fields in multiferroics, such as magnetoelectric composites and devices [19], [20], [21], [22]. In this review, the focus is on energy transduction mechanisms in ferroic materials (Figure 1), embracing piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity, electrocaloric, magnetostriction, magnetocaloric, elastocaloric, magnetoelectricity, and emerging spin-charge conversion
Section snippets
Energy transduction efficiency using ferroic materials
A general theory has been developed for the design of energy generators, in which the following dimensionless term for ‘effectiveness’ is defined in Eq. (1).where K is the coupling coefficient, Q is the quality factor, e is the effectiveness, ρ0 is a baseline density, ρ is the actual density of the design, λ is the transmission coefficient, and λmax denotes the maximum transmission coefficient. It should be noted that an efficient power circuit can be designed by improving the
Conclusion and perspectives
The co-existence of ferroic orders and their coupling in multiferroic materials opens up the possibility for novel energy transduction, which is one of the emerging topics in condensed matter and contemporary material science. Remarkable achievements have been gained for energy transduction ferroics in the recent years. As interest increases in energy utilization applications, energy transduction ferroic materials have shown high potential in circumventing device performance impediment.
Acknowledgments
S.R. acknowledges the support from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Award DE-SC0017928. Work at University of Maryland, College Park (M. W.) was supported by The Army Research Office contract W911NF-15-1-0615. EQ acknowledges support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) via the Priority Program 1599 and the Reinhart Koselleck Project QU 146/23-1.
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