Two-dimensional ZnO nanosheets grown on flexible ITO-PET substrate for self-powered energy-harvesting nanodevices

Here, we report the two-step growth method of two-dimensional (2-D) ZnO nanosheets (NSs) and explore their formation mechanism. Additionally, we illustrate their application for highperformance piezoelectric nanogenerators (NGs) by using grown products from various reaction times. The result shows that NGs based on 2-D NSs demonstrated better output performance than those based on 1-D NWs, which surprisingly increased from similar to 40 nA to similar to 0.15 mu A under the same compressive force of similar to 1 kgf. It can also be observed that the output current is slightly elevated as the 2-D nanostructures become thinner. Our results offer a unique way to improve the output performance of NGs by means of controlling the synthesis period of ZnO nanostructures, which have important applications in flexible electronics and wearable devices. Published by AIP Publishing.