A NEMS vibration energy harvester using ordered piezoelectric Zinc Oxide nanowire arrays

Author

Nabar, Bhargav P. ; Celik-Butler, Zeynep ; Butler, Donald P.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

28-31 Oct. 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

A nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) piezoelectric energy harvester using crystalline ZnO nanowires is developed. The device converts ambient vibrations into usable electrical energy for low power sensor applications. This is accomplished by mechanical excitation of an ordered ZnO nanorod array using a suspended bulk micromachined proof mass. The device is capable of generating up to 14.2 mV single polarity voltage under an input vibration of amplitude 1 g (9.8 m/s²) at a frequency of 1.10 KHz. To realize this structure, highly ordered arrays of crystalline ZnO nanorods have been fabricated using an amorphous silicon template patterned by thermal nanoimprint lithography, in conjunction with a low temperature hydrothermal growth process.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; crystal growth from solution; energy harvesting; nanolithography; nanosensors; nanowires; piezoelectric devices; soft lithography; zinc compounds; NEMS vibration energy harvester; ZnO; amorphous silicon template patterning; crystalline nanowire; frequency 1.10 kHz; low power sensor; low temperature hydrothermal growth process; micromachined proof mass; nanoelectromechanical piezoelectric energy harvester; ordered piezoelectric nanowire arrays; thermal nanoimprint lithography; voltage 14.2 mV; Nanoscale devices; Resonant frequency; Silicon; Springs; Substrates; Vibrations; Zinc oxide;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sensors, 2012 IEEE

Conference_Location

Taipei

ISSN

1930-0395

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-1766-6

Electronic_ISBN

1930-0395

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSENS.2012.6411355

Filename

6411355