The Growth of ZnO Nanorods on Stainless-steel foils and Its Application for Piezoelectric Nanogenerator

Abstract

ZnO nanorods have attracted much attention because of their potential for harvesting energy device. In this study, we investigate the effect of hexamethylenamin concentration to a characteristic of ZnO nanorods on a stainless-steel foil. ZnO nanorods were synthesized by simple hydrothermal methods on Stainless-steel (SS) by varying the precursor ratio of hexamethylenediamine and Zinc nitrate tetrahydrate. The ZnO nanorods samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction for crystal structure properties, and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) for their morphology. The piezoelectric nanogenerator performance was characterized by measuring current and voltage with electrometer and oscilloscope, respectively. The lattice parameters of ZnO nanorods are a, b = 3.2495 A, and c = 5.2069 A with the ratio c/a is 1.6 indicating that ZnO nanorods have hexagonal wurtzite structure. The length and of ZnO nanorods increases by increasing the precursor ratio from 0.347 to 1.229 μm. However, the diameter can be varied from 63 to 102 nm. The small diameter and longest of ZnO nanorod are the best for nanogenerator applications.