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Nano Research 2016, 9(2): 372-379 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0916-6
Research Article | Issue | Published: 20 November 2015

The enhanced performance of piezoelectric nanogenerator via suppressing screening effect with Au particles/ZnO nanoarrays Schottky junction

Show Author's Information Shengnan Lu1,  Qingliang Liao1,  Junjie Qi1,  Shuo Liu1,  Yichong Liu1,  Qijie Liang1,  Guangjie Zhang1,  Yue Zhang1,2( )
State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and MaterialsSchool of Materials Science and EngineeringUniversity of Science and Technology BeijingBeijing100083China
Key Laboratory of New Energy Materials and TechnologiesUniversity of Science and Technology BeijingBeijing100083China
Keywords:
piezoelectric nanogenerator, screening effect, piezopotential, Schottky junction, Au@ZnO nanoarrays
Cite this article:
Lu S, Liao Q, Qi J, et al. The enhanced performance of piezoelectric nanogenerator via suppressing screening effect with Au particles/ZnO nanoarrays Schottky junction. Nano Research, 2016, 9(2): 372-379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0916-6
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Abstract Full text About this article

This paper describes a novel strategy to weaken the piezopotential screening effect by forming Schottky junctions on the ZnO surface through the introduction of Au particles onto the surface. With this approach, the piezoelectric-energyconversion performance was greatly enhanced. The output voltage and current density of the Au@ZnO nanoarray-based piezoelectric nanogenerator reached 2 V and 1 μA/cm2, respectively, 10 times higher than the output of pristine ZnO nanoarray-based piezoelectric nanogenerators. We attribute this enhancement to dramatic suppression of the screening effect due to the decreased carrier concentration, as determined by scanning Kelvin probe microscope measurements and impedance analysis. The lowered capacitance of the Au@ZnO nanoarraybased piezoelectric nanogenerator also contributes to the improved output. This work provides a novel method to enhance the performance of piezoelectric nanogenerators and possibly extends to piezotronics and piezophototronics.


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About this article

The enhanced performance of piezoelectric nanogenerator via suppressing screening effect with Au particles/ZnO nanoarrays Schottky junction

Show Author's information Shengnan Lu1, Qingliang Liao1, Junjie Qi1, Shuo Liu1, Yichong Liu1, Qijie Liang1, Guangjie Zhang1, Yue Zhang1,2( )
State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and MaterialsSchool of Materials Science and EngineeringUniversity of Science and Technology BeijingBeijing100083China
Key Laboratory of New Energy Materials and TechnologiesUniversity of Science and Technology BeijingBeijing100083China

Abstract

This paper describes a novel strategy to weaken the piezopotential screening effect by forming Schottky junctions on the ZnO surface through the introduction of Au particles onto the surface. With this approach, the piezoelectric-energyconversion performance was greatly enhanced. The output voltage and current density of the Au@ZnO nanoarray-based piezoelectric nanogenerator reached 2 V and 1 μA/cm2, respectively, 10 times higher than the output of pristine ZnO nanoarray-based piezoelectric nanogenerators. We attribute this enhancement to dramatic suppression of the screening effect due to the decreased carrier concentration, as determined by scanning Kelvin probe microscope measurements and impedance analysis. The lowered capacitance of the Au@ZnO nanoarraybased piezoelectric nanogenerator also contributes to the improved output. This work provides a novel method to enhance the performance of piezoelectric nanogenerators and possibly extends to piezotronics and piezophototronics.

Keywords: piezoelectric nanogenerator, screening effect, piezopotential, Schottky junction, Au@ZnO nanoarrays

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 16 August 2015
Revised: 24 September 2015
Accepted: 05 October 2015
Published: 20 November 2015
Issue date: February 2016

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2013CB932602), the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (No. B14003), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51527802 and 51232001), Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities.

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