Flexible high-output nanogenerator based on lateral ZnO nanowire array

We report here a simple and effective approach, named scalable sweeping-printing-method, for fabricating flexible high-output nanogenerator (HONG) that can effectively harvesting mechanical energy for driving a small commercial electronic component. The technique consists of two main steps. In the first step, the vertically aligned ZnO nanowires (NWs) are transferred to a receiving substrate to form horizontally aligned arrays. Then, parallel stripe type of electrodes are deposited to connect all of the NWs together. Using a single layer of HONG structure, an open-circuit voltage of up to 2.03 V and a peak output power density of ∼11 mW/cm³ have been achieved. The generated electric energy was effectively stored by utilizing capacitors, and it was successfully used to light up a commercial light-emitting diode (LED), which is a landmark progress toward building self-powered devices by harvesting energy from the environment. This research opens up the path for practical applications of nanowire-based piezoelectric nanogeneragtors for self-powered nanosystems.