Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors
Heifer International



Home > Press > Researchers use improved nanogenerators to power sensors based on zinc oxide nanowires

Georgia Tech professor Zhong Lin Wang holds an improved nanogenerator containing 700 rows of nanowire arrays. The generator was used to power nanometer-scale sensors. Credit: Photo: Gary Meek
Georgia Tech professor Zhong Lin Wang holds an improved nanogenerator containing 700 rows of nanowire arrays. The generator was used to power nanometer-scale sensors. Credit: Photo: Gary Meek

Abstract:
Self-powered nanosensors

Researchers use improved nanogenerators to power sensors based on zinc oxide nanowires

Atlanta, GA | Posted on March 30th, 2010

By combining a new generation of piezoelectric nanogenerators with two types of nanowire sensors, researchers have created what are believed to be the first self-powered nanometer-scale sensing devices that draw power from the conversion of mechanical energy. The new devices can measure the pH of liquids or detect the presence of ultraviolet light using electrical current produced from mechanical energy in the environment.

Based on arrays containing as many as 20,000 zinc oxide nanowires in each nanogenerator, the devices can produce up to 1.2 volts of output voltage, and are fabricated with a chemical process designed to facilitate low-cost manufacture on flexible substrates. Tests done with nearly one thousand nanogenerators - which have no mechanical moving parts - showed that they can be operated over time without loss of generating capacity.

Details of the improved nanogenerator and self-powered nanosensors were scheduled to be reported March 28 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

"We have demonstrated a robust way to harvest energy and use it for powering nanometer-scale sensors," said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "We now have a technology roadmap for scaling these nanogenerators up to make truly practical applications."

For the past five years, Wang's research team has been developing nanoscale generators that use the piezoelectric effect - which produces electrical charges when wires made from zinc oxide are subjected to strain. The strain can be produced by simply flexing the wires, and current from many wires can be constructively combined to power small devices. The research effort has recently focused on increasing the amount of current and voltage generated and on making the devices more robust.

In the paper, Wang and collaborators report on a new configuration for the nanowires that embeds both ends of the tiny structures in a polymer substrate. The wires can then generate current as they are compressed in a flexible nanogenerator enclosure, eliminating the contact with a metallic electrode that was required in earlier devices. Because the generators are completely enclosed, they can be used in a variety of environments.

"We can now grow the wires chemically on substrates that are foldable and flexible and the processing can now be done at substrate temperatures of less than 100 degrees Celsius - about the temperature of coffee," explained Wang. "That will allow lower cost fabrication and growth on just about any substrate."

The nanogenerators are produced using a multi-step process that includes fabrication of electrodes that provide both Ohmic and Shottky contacts for the nanowires. The arrays can be grown both vertically and laterally. To maximize current and voltage, the growth and assembly requires alignment of crystalline growth, as well as the synchronization of charging and discharging cycles.

Production of vertical nanogenerators begins with growing zinc oxide nanowires on a gold-coated surface using a wet chemical method. A layer of polymethyl-methacrylate is then spun-coated onto the nanowires, covering them from top to bottom. Oxygen plasma etching is then performed, leaving clean tips on which a piece of silicon wafer coated with platinum is placed. The coated silicon provides a Shottky barrier, which is essential for maintaining electrical current flow.

The alternating current output of the nanogenerators depends on the amount of strain applied. "At a strain rate of less than two percent per second, we can produce output voltage of 1.2 volts," said Wang. "The power output is matched with the external load."

Lateral nanogenerators integrating 700 rows of zinc oxide nanowires produced a peak voltage of 1.26 volts at a strain of 0.19 percent. In a separate nanogenerator, vertical integration of three layers of zinc oxide nanowire arrays produced a peak power density of 2.7 milliwatts per cubic centimeter.

Wang's team has so far produced two tiny sensors that are based on zinc oxide nanowires and powered by the nanogenerators. By measuring the amplitude of voltage changes across the device when exposed to different liquids, the pH sensor can measure the acidity of liquids. An ultraviolet nanosensor depends on similar voltage changes to detect when it is struck by ultraviolet light.

In addition to Wang, the team authoring the paper included Sheng Xu, Yong Qin, Chen Xu, Yaguang Wei, and Rusen Wang, all from Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engineering.

The new generator and nanoscale sensors open new possibilities for very small sensing devices that can operate without batteries, powered by mechanical energy harvested from the environment. Energy sources could include the motion of tides, sonic waves, mechanical vibration, the flapping of a flag in the wind, pressure from shoes of a hiker or the movement of clothing.

"Building devices that are small isn't sufficient," Wang noted. "We must also be able to power them in a sustainable way that allows them to be mobile. Using our new nanogenerator, we can put these devices into the environment where they can work independently and sustainably without requiring a battery."

####

About Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation's top research universities, distinguished by its commitment to improving the human condition through advanced science and technology.

Georgia Tech's campus occupies 400 acres in the heart of the city of Atlanta, where 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive a focused, technologically based education.

Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)*, the Institute offers many nationally recognized, top-ranked programs. Undergraduate and graduate degrees are offered in the Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Management, Sciences, and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. Georgia Tech is consistently ranked in U.S. News & World Report's top ten public universities in the United States.

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
John Toon

404-894-6986

Copyright © Georgia Institute of Technology

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related News Press

News and information

Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024

How surface roughness influences the adhesion of soft materials: Research team discovers universal mechanism that leads to adhesion hysteresis in soft materials March 8th, 2024

Two-dimensional bimetallic selenium-containing metal-organic frameworks and their calcinated derivatives as electrocatalysts for overall water splitting March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

Govt.-Legislation/Regulation/Funding/Policy

What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024

Researchers’ approach may protect quantum computers from attacks March 8th, 2024

The Access to Advanced Health Institute receives up to $12.7 million to develop novel nanoalum adjuvant formulation for better protection against tuberculosis and pandemic influenza March 8th, 2024

Optically trapped quantum droplets of light can bind together to form macroscopic complexes March 8th, 2024

Possible Futures

Two-dimensional bimetallic selenium-containing metal-organic frameworks and their calcinated derivatives as electrocatalysts for overall water splitting March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

The Access to Advanced Health Institute receives up to $12.7 million to develop novel nanoalum adjuvant formulation for better protection against tuberculosis and pandemic influenza March 8th, 2024

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

Academic/Education

Rice University launches Rice Synthetic Biology Institute to improve lives January 12th, 2024

Multi-institution, $4.6 million NSF grant to fund nanotechnology training September 9th, 2022

National Space Society Helps Fund Expanding Frontier’s Brownsville Summer Entrepreneur Academy: National Space Society and Club for the Future to Support Youth Development Program in South Texas June 24th, 2022

How a physicist aims to reduce the noise in quantum computing: NAU assistant professor Ryan Behunin received an NSF CAREER grant to study how to reduce the noise produced in the process of quantum computing, which will make it better and more practical April 1st, 2022

Sensors

$900,000 awarded to optimize graphene energy harvesting devices: The WoodNext Foundation's commitment to U of A physicist Paul Thibado will be used to develop sensor systems compatible with six different power sources January 12th, 2024

A color-based sensor to emulate skin's sensitivity: In a step toward more autonomous soft robots and wearable technologies, EPFL researchers have created a device that uses color to simultaneously sense multiple mechanical and temperature stimuli December 8th, 2023

New tools will help study quantum chemistry aboard the International Space Station: Rochester Professor Nicholas Bigelow helped develop experiments conducted at NASA’s Cold Atom Lab to probe the fundamental nature of the world around us November 17th, 2023

TU Delft researchers discover new ultra strong material for microchip sensors: A material that doesn't just rival the strength of diamonds and graphene, but boasts a yield strength 10 times greater than Kevlar, renowned for its use in bulletproof vests November 3rd, 2023

Announcements

What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

The Access to Advanced Health Institute receives up to $12.7 million to develop novel nanoalum adjuvant formulation for better protection against tuberculosis and pandemic influenza March 8th, 2024

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

Energy

Development of zinc oxide nanopagoda array photoelectrode: photoelectrochemical water-splitting hydrogen production January 12th, 2024

Shedding light on unique conduction mechanisms in a new type of perovskite oxide November 17th, 2023

Inverted perovskite solar cell breaks 25% efficiency record: Researchers improve cell efficiency using a combination of molecules to address different November 17th, 2023

The efficient perovskite cells with a structured anti-reflective layer – another step towards commercialization on a wider scale October 6th, 2023

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE




  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More











ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project