Piezoelectricity Enhancement of Nanogenerators Based on PDMS and ZnSnO₃ Nanowires through Microstructuration

The current trend for smart, self-sustainable, and multifunctional technology demands for the development of energy harvesters based on widely available and environmentally friendly materials. In this context, ZnSnO₃ nanostructures show promising potential because of their high polarization, which can be explored in piezoelectric devices. Nevertheless, a pure phase of ZnSnO₃ is hard to achieve because of its metastability, and obtaining it in the form of nanowires is even more challenging. Although some groups have already reported the mixing of ZnSnO₃ nanostructures with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to produce a nanogenerator, the resultant polymeric film is usually flat and does not take advantage of an enhanced piezoelectric contribution achieved through its microstructuration. Herein, a microstructured composite of nanowires synthesized by a seed-layer free hydrothermal route mixed with PDMS (ZnSnO₃@PDMS) is proposed to produce nanogenerators. PFM measurements show a clear enhancement of d₃₃ for single ZnSnO₃ versus ZnO nanowires (23 ± 4 pm/V vs 9 ± 2 pm/V). The microstructuration introduced herein results in an enhancement of the piezoelectric effect of the ZnSnO₃ nanowires, enabling nanogenerators with an output voltage, current, and instantaneous power density of 120 V, 13 μA, and 230 μW·cm^–2, respectively. Even using an active area smaller than 1 cm², the performance of this nanogenerator enables lighting up multiple LEDs and other small electronic devices, thus proving great potential for wearables and portable electronics.