Journal ArticleDOI
Microfibre–nanowire hybrid structure for energy scavenging
TLDR
This work establishes a methodology for scavenging light-wind energy and body-movement energy using fabrics and presents a simple, low-cost approach that converts low-frequency vibration/friction energy into electricity using piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowires grown radially around textile fibres.Abstract:
Nanodevices don't use much energy, and if the little they do need can be scavenged from vibrations associated with foot steps, heart beats, noises and air flow, a whole range of applications in personal electronics, sensing and defence technologies opens up. Energy gathering of that type requires a technology that works at low frequency range (below 10 Hz), ideally based on soft, flexible materials. A group working at Georgia Institute of Technology has now come up with a system that converts low-frequency vibration/friction energy into electricity using piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowires grown radially around textile fibres. By entangling two fibres and brushing their associated nanowires together, mechanical energy is converted into electricity via a coupled piezoelectric-semiconductor process. This work shows a potential method for creating fabrics which scavenge energy from light winds and body movement. A self-powering nanosystem that harvests its operating energy from the environment is an attractive proposition for sensing, personal electronics and defence technologies1. This is in principle feasible for nanodevices owing to their extremely low power consumption2,3,4,5. Solar, thermal and mechanical (wind, friction, body movement) energies are common and may be scavenged from the environment, but the type of energy source to be chosen has to be decided on the basis of specific applications. Military sensing/surveillance node placement, for example, may involve difficult-to-reach locations, may need to be hidden, and may be in environments that are dusty, rainy, dark and/or in deep forest. In a moving vehicle or aeroplane, harvesting energy from a rotating tyre or wind blowing on the body is a possible choice to power wireless devices implanted in the surface of the vehicle. Nanowire nanogenerators built on hard substrates were demonstrated for harvesting local mechanical energy produced by high-frequency ultrasonic waves6,7. To harvest the energy from vibration or disturbance originating from footsteps, heartbeats, ambient noise and air flow, it is important to explore innovative technologies that work at low frequencies (such as <10 Hz) and that are based on flexible soft materials. Here we present a simple, low-cost approach that converts low-frequency vibration/friction energy into electricity using piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowires grown radially around textile fibres. By entangling two fibres and brushing the nanowires rooted on them with respect to each other, mechanical energy is converted into electricity owing to a coupled piezoelectric–semiconductor process8,9. This work establishes a methodology for scavenging light-wind energy and body-movement energy using fabrics.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Mapping of strain-piezopotential relationship along bent zinc oxide microwires
TL;DR: In this paper, 3D Kelvin probe microscopy (3DKPM) is applied to precisely map the piezopotential along a bent ZnO microwire (MW), and an external DC bias was applied along the axial direction of the bent MW.
Journal ArticleDOI
A plastic-composite-plastic structure high performance flexible energy harvester based on PIN-PMN-PT single crystal/epoxy 2-2 composite
TL;DR: In this article, a flexible piezoelectric energy harvester constituted by a Pb(In 1/2Nb1/2)O3-Pb(Mg 1/3Nb2/3)-O3 (PIN-PMN-PT) single crystal/epoxy 2-2 composite flake, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, and a PET cover, which is capable of harvesting energy from biomechanical movements.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fabrication and piezoelectric-pyroelectric properties of electrospun PVDF/ZnO composite fibers
Journal ArticleDOI
Face-selective tungstate ions drive zinc oxide nanowire growth direction and dopant incorporation
Jiangyang Liu,Kazuki Nagashima,Hiroki Yamashita,Wataru Mizukami,Jun Uzuhashi,Takuro Hosomi,Takuro Hosomi,Masaki Kanai,Xixi Zhao,Yoshinori Miura,Guozhu Zhang,Tsunaki Takahashi,Tsunaki Takahashi,Masaru Suzuki,Daiki Sakai,Benjarong Samransuksamer,Yong He,Tadakatsu Ohkubo,Takao Yasui,Takao Yasui,Yuriko Aoki,Johnny C. Ho,Yoshinobu Baba,Takeshi Yanagida,Takeshi Yanagida +24 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that the presence of tungstate ions on specific surface planes of zinc oxide nanowires causes nanowire growth and chemical doping along specific crystal planes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tapered ZnO Whiskers: {hkil}-Specific Mosaic Twinning VLS Growth from a Partially Molten Bottom Source
TL;DR: Analytical electron microscopic observations indicated that tapered W-ZnO whiskers formed tapered slabs having mosaic and twinned domains, which could have potential applications.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Piezoelectric Nanogenerators Based on Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays
TL;DR: This approach has the potential of converting mechanical, vibrational, and/or hydraulic energy into electricity for powering nanodevices.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ballistic carbon nanotube field-effect transistors
TL;DR: It is shown that contacting semiconducting single-walled nanotubes by palladium, a noble metal with high work function and good wetting interactions with nanotube, greatly reduces or eliminates the barriers for transport through the valence band of nanot tubes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Coaxial silicon nanowires as solar cells and nanoelectronic power sources
Bozhi Tian,Xiaolin Zheng,Thomas J. Kempa,Ying Fang,Nanfang Yu,Guihua Yu,Jinlin Huang,Charles M. Lieber +7 more
TL;DR: These coaxial silicon nanowire photovoltaic elements provide a new nanoscale test bed for studies of photoinduced energy/charge transport and artificial photosynthesis, and might find general usage as elements for powering ultralow-power electronics and diverse nanosystems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Energy scavenging for mobile and wireless electronics
Joseph A. Paradiso,Thad Starner +1 more
TL;DR: A whirlwind survey of energy harvesting can be found in this article, where the authors present a survey of recent advances in energy harvesting, spanning historic and current developments in sensor networks and mobile devices.
Journal ArticleDOI
Direct-current nanogenerator driven by ultrasonic waves
TL;DR: A nanowire nanogenerator that is driven by an ultrasonic wave to produce continuous direct-current output and offers a potential solution for powering nanodevices and nanosystems.