A review on magnetorheological elastomers and piezoelectric materials to control vibration and harvest electrical energy

Abstract

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) have garnered significant interest in recent decades due to their vast potential in engineering applications. Magnetorheological (MR) materials can be rapidly and reversibly tuned by applying a magnetic field, leveraging their viscoelastic and mechanical properties. Unlike MR fluids, which are prone to issues like oil contamination and particle sedimentation, MREs offer a solid alternative that mitigates these drawbacks. This solid-state advantage opens up numerous possibilities for creating intelligent devices across various technical domains, including vibration isolation, vibration reduction, and shock absorption. Because of these benefits, recent studies have investigated the incorporation of MREs into energy harvesting systems like piezoelectric materials. Piezoelectric materials are one of the promising technologies in the field of energy harvesting, which can utilize an external source (Vibration) as an input and harvest electrical energy as an output. This might fulfil the growing demands in the field of sustainable and renewable energy. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of innovative materials and their types, particularly MREs and piezoelectric elastomers/polymers. It also discusses various manufacturing methods for MREs and piezoelectric materials, shedding light on their potential applications in the realm of energy harvesting and beyond.