Boosted energy harvesting performance of magneto-mechano-electric generator via photon flash annealing for self-powered IoT sensors

In this paper, we demonstrate a boosted output magneto-mechano-electric (MME) generator consisting of piezoelectric Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O3‐Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PMN-PZT) single crystal and laminated FeBSi alloy (Metglas) prepared by employing photon flash annealing (PFA) treatment. The high-temperature PFA treatment with millisecond-level short pulse irradiation on the Metglas sheet induces surface nanocrystallization, enhances magnetostrictive and mechanical responses. The PFA-treated Metglas-based MME generator exhibits a strong magnetoelectric coupling coefficient of 215 V/cm∙Oe, an open-circuit root mean square (RMS) voltage of 26 V, and RMS output power of 3 mW at an AC magnetic field of 8 Oe. These values are noticeably larger (∼100 % enhancement for output power) than those of pristine Metglas-based MME generators due to the enhanced piezomagnetic coefficient and mechanical quality factor of PFA Metglas. Finally, the output electric energy of the PFA-treated MME generator is utilized to drive an Internet of Things (IoT) device by integrating the MME generator with a power management circuit, a storage capacitor, and an IoT temperature sensor.