A MAGNETO-ELECTRIC LIQUID – BETTER SENSING

ended

Our radical vision of a science-enabled technology is a magneto-electric (ME) liquid for new devices like distributed-force sensors that can transform complex structures like the skins of humanoid robots and artificial body parts. A ME material is characterised by having magnetic properties that can be manipulated with an electric field and, vice versa, electric properties that can be manipulated with a magnetic field. Until now the only ME materials have been solid-state mutliferroics, because until recently ferroic properties were considered to be specific to solid materials. However, based on our recent discovery of ferromagnetic liquids, which overturned this established paradigm, we propose a breakthrough liquid ME material. The basic component of this ME liquid will be ME nanoplatelets (NPs), i.e., magnetic NPs that will be hybridized with electrically polarized organics. These ME-NPs will then be dispersed in a nonconductive liquid medium, where they will be able to reorient in an external field. At volume concentrations of >10 vol.% ME-NPs multiferroic liquids will be formed and characterized by a simultaneous spontaneous polarization and magnetization without an externally applied field. A new surface-selective hybridization technology will be developed together with the synthesis of electrically polarized organics for the fabrication of the ME-NPs. The ME liquids will be realised with an all-new multiscale modelling framework; the chemical interactions and physical properties of an individual magnetic NP with organic ligands will require ab-initio calculations; and phenomenological models will account for the complex interactions between all the system phases, including the system’s interaction with external fields. The envisioned ME-liquids-enabling technologies will surpass current sensing paradigms by providing contactless and remote operation, low energy consumption, wireless signal transmission, distributed sensing and miniaturization.