Fabricating AC/DC nanogenerators based on single ZnO nanowires by using a nanomanipulator in a scanning electron microscope

Single zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) are promising for nanogenerators because of their excellent semiconducting and piezoelectric properties, but characterizing the latter efficiently is challenging. As reported here, an electrical breakdown strategy was used to construct single ZnO NWs with a specific length. With the high operability of a nanomanipulator in a scanning electron microscope, ZnO-NW-based two-probe and three-probe structures were constructed for fabricating AC/DC nanogenerators, respectively. For a ZnO NW, an AC output of between −15.31 mV and 5.82 mV was achieved, while for a DC nanogenerator, an output of ∼24.3 mV was realized. Also, the three-probe structure’s output method was changed to verify the distribution of piezoelectric charges when a single ZnO NW is bent by a probe, and DC outputs of different amplitudes were achieved. This study provides a low-cost, highly convenient, and operational method for studying the AC/DC output characteristics of single NWs, which is beneficial for the further development of nanogenerators.