In Korea, Jungho Ryu and colleagues at the Korea Institute of Materials Science, have designed a magneto–mechano–electric generator that harvests magnetic energy from the environment. It is made from a magnetostrictive single crystal composite that elongates and contracts in a low frequency magnetic field. The strain induced in this material outputs a voltage and Ryu’s team have demonstrated that their device can harvest energy from a vacuum pump cable to power 35 light emitting diodes. They are conducting further studies to improve its power density and the materials science community is excited about how this technology could be utilised in the future.
Want to know more?
Read the full article in Chemistry World by Heather Powell.
Or, take a look at the original article which is free to access until 15th June 2015:
“Ubiquitous magneto-mechano-electric generator” by J. Ryu et al., DOI:10.1039/C5EE00414D
