Lithium-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanowires–Polymer Composite for High Performance Flexible Piezoelectric Nanogenerator

Abstract

We present a method to develop high performance flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators (NGs) by employing Li-doped ZnO nanowires (NWs). We synthesized Li-doped ZnO NWs and adopted them to replace intrinsic ZnO NWs with a relatively low piezoelectric coefficient. When we exploited the ferroelectric phase transition induced in Li-doped ZnO NWs, the performance of the NGs was significantly improved and the NG fabrication process was greatly simplified. In addition, our approach can be easily expanded for large-scale NG fabrication. Consequently, the NGs fabricated by our simple method exhibit the excelling output voltage and current, which are stable and reproducible during periodic bending/releasing measurement over extended cycles. In addition, output voltage and current up to ∼ 180 V and ∼ 50 μA, respectively, were obtained in the large-scale NG. The approach introduced here extends the performance limits of ZnO-based NGs and their potentials in practical applications.

Mesoporous Piezoelectric Polymer Composite Films with Tunable Mechanical Modulus for Harvesting Energy from Liquid Pressure Fluctuation

“…[1–3] A large variation of creative NG designs have enabled the harvesting of various mechanical energy sources, such as acoustic waves, random vibrations, and even biological activities. [4–13] Among all proposed application directions, harvesting biomechanical energy possesses a very unique potential due to the great desire of self-powering capability of implantable devices and the extremely limited access to other possible energy sources in human body.…”

Sponge-Templated Macroporous Graphene Network for Piezoelectric ZnO Nanogenerator

“…The piezoelectricity stems from the crystalline structures of the nanowires and their self-rectifying nature at the electrical contact to substrate materials. 8,9,10 Recent studies suggest that ZnO arrays on graphene provide an attractive option for nanogenerators due to desirable Schottky barrier properties. 11,12,13,14 For IoT applications, remaining challenges include a simple and inexpensive synthesis of the nanomaterials and the maximization of the ZnO/graphene area for high-density power generation.…”

Direct Writing of Patterned, Lead‐Free Nanowire Aligned Flexible Piezoelectric Device

“…To achieve high‐output PNGs, endeavors have been employed in exploring anisotropic piezoelectric materials such as nanowires11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and nanosheets,17, 18 which show more outstanding performance compared with the traditionally used isotropic ones 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Among such materials, lead‐free (Na,K)NbO 3 (KNN) nanowires (NWs) with remarkable piezoelectric property and biocompatibility25, 26, 27, 28 serve as one of the most attractive candidates, which are seldom studied in flexible PNG fabricating till now.…”