Two-phase magnetoelectric nanopowder/polyurethane composites

Abstract

This study deals with the observation of magnetoelectric (ME) effect in nanocomposite films constituted of semicrystalline polyurethane matrix filled with magnetic Fe3O4 (hard) or Ni (soft) nanoparticles. The measurement of the magnetic field-induced ground current of the so-called particulate composites enabled the precise determination of true ME current after extraction of the part corresponding to the inductively coupled (loop) current. Experimental ME current could be successfully simulated considering coexistence of both true linear and quadratic ME effects and by taking into account the nonlinear variation of applied dc bias and ac field magnitude due to the magnetization saturation of the magnetic field generator. Although linear ME coefficients of particulate composites are lower than those of laminate composites, they are of the same order of magnitude than that of reference ME material Cr2O3 (up to 18 mV/cm Oe). Besides, nanocomposites are simple to prepare, flexible, easily integrable, and sensitive to magnetic field anomaly at room temperature. At last, they present a linear ME coupling apparently not triggered by magnetostrictive phenomenon.