Facile Synthesis, and Low Force Mechanical Energy Harvesting of Zinc Titanate (ZnTiO3) Nanoparticles

Lead-free piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENG) oxides are emergent materials for environment friendly energy technology and smart electronic applications. Here we first time report facile one-step solvothermal synthesis of metastable LN-type hexagonal R3c piezoelectric ZnTiO3 nanoparticles and show their mechanical energy harvesting properties. Phase, purity and morphology of ZnTiO3 powder were studied by P-XRD, EDAX and TEM. Flexible nanogenerators were fabricated by preparing a composite of piezoelectric ZnTiO3 nanoparticles and Poly(dimethyaISiloxane) (PDMS) as the matrix in different wt.%, which are then tested for mechanical energy harvesting. Maximum output peak-to-peak open circuit voltage, Voc ~ 0.2V and peak-to-peak short-circuit current Isc ~ 1.0 nA are measured from the nanogenerator with 20 wt.% ZnTiO3 NPs.