Design magneto-dielectric elastomer composites for flexible electric/magnetic field response multi-mode sensors

With the increasing complexity of flexible sensor application scenarios, in order to achieve their use in electric and magnetic fields, this paper introduces a core-shell structure with Ni-doped cobalt ferrites as the magnetic core and barium titanate as the dielectric layer, filling it into a polymer matrix to prepare flexible magneto-dielectric elastomer composites. Taking advantages of this design, the targets including the establishment of multi-functionalization and the retention of fine mechanical properties have been simultaneously achieved. The synthesized elastomer composites exhibit fine flexibility and excellent magneto-electric response. An optimum magnetic-induced deformation angle achieves to 55° under an external magnetic field of 8000 Oe, and a maximum electric-induced deformation approaches to about 8.29% under an applied electric field of 5 kV/mm. Besides that, with Ni-doping, the magnetization behaviors of composite fillings could be tuned, resulting a controllable magnetic field response of the synthesized magneto-dielectric rubber composites. This work provides a novel way to design multi-functionalized flexible composites, which is significant for exploring multi-mode flexible sensors. Highlights Magneto-dielectric elastomers were prepared with using core-shell filling. The elastomer composites exhibit fine magnetic and electric field response. The composites maintained good flexible mechanical properties.