Vibration energy harvesting by ferrofluids in external magnetic fields

Abstract The development of wearable electronics and the current era of big data requires the sustainable power supply of numerous distributed sensors. In this paper, we designed and experimentally studied an energy harvester based on ferrofluid sloshing. The harvester contains a horizontally positi...

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Main Authors: Michal Rajnak, Juraj Kurimsky, Katarina Paulovicova, Jana Tothova, Jozef Kiraly, Roman Cimbala
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-12490-w
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author Michal Rajnak
Juraj Kurimsky
Katarina Paulovicova
Jana Tothova
Jozef Kiraly
Roman Cimbala
author_facet Michal Rajnak
Juraj Kurimsky
Katarina Paulovicova
Jana Tothova
Jozef Kiraly
Roman Cimbala
author_sort Michal Rajnak
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The development of wearable electronics and the current era of big data requires the sustainable power supply of numerous distributed sensors. In this paper, we designed and experimentally studied an energy harvester based on ferrofluid sloshing. The harvester contains a horizontally positioned cylindrical vial, half-filled with a ferrofluid exposed to a magnetic field. The vial is excited by a laboratory shaker and the induced voltage in a nearby coil is measured under increasing and decreasing shaking rates. Five ferrofluid samples are involved in the study, yielding the dependence of the electromotive force on the ferrofluid magnetization of saturation. The energy harvesting by ferrofluid sloshing is investigated in various magnetic field configurations. It is found that the most effective magnetic field configuration for the energy harvesting is characterized by the field intensity perpendicular to the axis of the vial motion and gravity. The harvested electric power linearly increases with the ferrofluid magnetization of saturation. The electromotive force generated by each ferrofluid is found identical for measurements in acceleration and deceleration mode. A significant reduction in the induced voltage is observed in a stronger magnetic field. The magneto-viscous effect and partial immobilization of the ferrofluid in the stronger magnetic field is considered. The magneto-viscous effect is documented by a supplementing experiment. The results extend knowledge on energy harvesting by ferrofluid sloshing and may pave the way to applications of ferrofluid energy harvesters for mechanical excitations with changing directions in regard to the magnetic field induction.
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spelling doaj-art-80f22a5cac584d769d9c55c0022d60ac2025-08-20T04:02:57ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111510.1038/s41598-025-12490-wVibration energy harvesting by ferrofluids in external magnetic fieldsMichal Rajnak0Juraj Kurimsky1Katarina Paulovicova2Jana Tothova3Jozef Kiraly4Roman Cimbala5Institute of Experimental Physics SASFaculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Technical University of KošiceInstitute of Experimental Physics SASFaculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Technical University of KošiceFaculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Technical University of KošiceFaculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Technical University of KošiceAbstract The development of wearable electronics and the current era of big data requires the sustainable power supply of numerous distributed sensors. In this paper, we designed and experimentally studied an energy harvester based on ferrofluid sloshing. The harvester contains a horizontally positioned cylindrical vial, half-filled with a ferrofluid exposed to a magnetic field. The vial is excited by a laboratory shaker and the induced voltage in a nearby coil is measured under increasing and decreasing shaking rates. Five ferrofluid samples are involved in the study, yielding the dependence of the electromotive force on the ferrofluid magnetization of saturation. The energy harvesting by ferrofluid sloshing is investigated in various magnetic field configurations. It is found that the most effective magnetic field configuration for the energy harvesting is characterized by the field intensity perpendicular to the axis of the vial motion and gravity. The harvested electric power linearly increases with the ferrofluid magnetization of saturation. The electromotive force generated by each ferrofluid is found identical for measurements in acceleration and deceleration mode. A significant reduction in the induced voltage is observed in a stronger magnetic field. The magneto-viscous effect and partial immobilization of the ferrofluid in the stronger magnetic field is considered. The magneto-viscous effect is documented by a supplementing experiment. The results extend knowledge on energy harvesting by ferrofluid sloshing and may pave the way to applications of ferrofluid energy harvesters for mechanical excitations with changing directions in regard to the magnetic field induction.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-12490-wFerrofluidEnergy harvestingSloshingVibrationViscosityMagnetic field
spellingShingle Michal Rajnak
Juraj Kurimsky
Katarina Paulovicova
Jana Tothova
Jozef Kiraly
Roman Cimbala
Vibration energy harvesting by ferrofluids in external magnetic fields
Scientific Reports
Ferrofluid
Energy harvesting
Sloshing
Vibration
Viscosity
Magnetic field
title Vibration energy harvesting by ferrofluids in external magnetic fields
title_full Vibration energy harvesting by ferrofluids in external magnetic fields
title_fullStr Vibration energy harvesting by ferrofluids in external magnetic fields
title_full_unstemmed Vibration energy harvesting by ferrofluids in external magnetic fields
title_short Vibration energy harvesting by ferrofluids in external magnetic fields
title_sort vibration energy harvesting by ferrofluids in external magnetic fields
topic Ferrofluid
Energy harvesting
Sloshing
Vibration
Viscosity
Magnetic field
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-12490-w
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