Electricity generation based on vertically aligned PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 nanowire arrays

We statistically demonstrated the electricity generation from individual vertically-aligned/epitaxial PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 (PZT) nanowires (NWs) using a conductive atomic force microscope (AFM). The measured outputs were analyzed in reference to the theoretically calculated piezopotential distribution in a bent NW. Our results show that the performance of the PZT NWs for electricity generation is at the same level as that of ZnO NWs although the piezocoefficient of PZT is high, due to high relative dielectric constant of PZT. Systematic investigating piezoelectricity from single PZT NWs will be useful for optimizing the performance for PZT nanogenerator applications. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.