Development of energy harvesting and ferroelectric characteristic of thulium doped ZnO via graphene addition

Abstract

Wet chemical co-precipitation and hydrothermal techniques were used to synthesize Tm-doped GO/ZnO (1:7) nanocomposites. Carbon concentration was found to be different in the prepared Tm-doped GO/ZnO powders. Both thulium doping and the addition of graphene oxide have affected dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of ZnO. The largest value of energy harvesting performance, namely (95 V, 2.40 μAcm−2), was obtained by the piezoelectric nanogenerator of Tm-doped GO/ZnO nanocomposite synthesized by hydrothermal method. The highest remnant polarization (Pr) and the lowest coercive field (Ec) namely (13.15 μC/cm2 and 4.25 kV/cm) were achieved by Tm-doped GO/ZnO nanocomposite synthesized by co-precipitation method. The achievements of present work make Tm-doped GO/ZnO hybrids promising candidates for designing self-powered sensors, energy harvesters and broad-temperature ferroelectric based memory devices.