The mechanism of the film surface development was considered from the point of view of saccharin adsorption and its action as an inhibitor of vertical grain growth during direct, pulse and pulse reverse current modes.

Polymer-based magnetoelectric composite materials have attracted a lot of attention due to their high potential in various types of applications as magnetic field sensors, energy harvesting, and biomedical devices. Current researches are focused on the increase in the efficiency of magnetoelectric transformation. In this work, a new strategy of arrangement of clusters of magnetic nanoparticles by an external magnetic field in PVDF and PFVD-TrFE matrixes is proposed to increase the voltage coefficient (α_ME) of the magnetoelectric effect. Another strategy is the use of 3-component composites through the inclusion of piezoelectric BaTiO₃ particles. Developed strategies allow us to increase the α_ME value from ~5 mV/cm·Oe for the composite of randomly distributed CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles in PVDF matrix to ~18.5 mV/cm·Oe for a composite of magnetic particles in PVDF-TrFE matrix with 5%wt of piezoelectric particles. The applicability of such materials as bioactive surface is demonstrated on neural crest stem cell cultures.

We investigated the magnetoelectric properties of a new laminate composite material based on y + 140°-cut congruent lithium niobate piezoelectric plates with an antiparallel polarized “head-to-head” bidomain structure and metglas used as a magnetostrictive layer. A series of bidomain lithium niobate crystals were prepared by annealing under conditions of Li₂O outdiffusion from LiNbO₃ with a resultant growth of an inversion domain. The measured quasi-static magnetoelectric coupling coefficient achieved |α_E31| = 1.9 V·(cm Oe)⁻¹. At a bending resonance frequency of 6862 Hz, we found a giant |α_E31| value up to 1704 V·(cm Oe)⁻¹. Furthermore, the equivalent magnetic noise spectral density of the investigated composite material was only 92 fT/Hz^1/2, a record value for such a low operation frequency. The magnetic-field detection limit of the laminated composite was found to be as low as 200 fT in direct measurements without any additional shielding from external noises.

With the recent thriving of low-power electronic microdevices and sensors the development of components capable of scavenging environmental energy has become imperative. In this work we studied bidomain congruent LiNbO3 (LN) single crystals combined with magnetic materials for dual, mechanical and magnetic, energy harvesting applications. A simple magnetomechano- electric composite cantilever, with a tri-layered long-bar bidomain LN / spring-steel / metglas structure and a large tip proof permanent magnet, was fabricated. Its vibration and magnetic energy harvesting capabilities were tested while trying to optimize its resonant characteristics, load impedance and tip proof mass. The vibration measurements yielded a peak open-circuit voltage of 2.42 kV/g, short-circuit current of 60.1 μA/g and average power of up to 35.6 mW/g2, corresponding to a power density of 6.9 mW/(cm3·g2), at a low resonance frequency of 29.22 Hz and with an optimal load of 40 MΩ. The magnetic response revealed a resonant peak open-circuit voltage of 90.9 V/Oe and an average power of up to 49.9 μW/Oe2, corresponding to a relatively large magnetoelectric coefficient of 1.82 kV/(cm·Oe) and power density of 9.7 μW/(cm3·Oe2). We thus developed a system that is, in principle, able to scavenge electrical power simultaneously from low-level ambient mechanical and magnetic sources to feed low-power electronic devices.