Tutorial EL08—Nanogenerators and Piezotronics—Fundamentals and Applications

Instructors: Wenzhuo Wu, Purdue University; Jyh-Ming Wu, National Tsing Hua University; Sang-Woo Kim, Yonsei University; Jun Chen, University of California, Los Angeles

Nanogenerators and piezoelectric are the two recently developed technologies for effective harvesting of ambient mechanical energy for self-powered systems. Ever since the wide-range applications of laptop computers and cell phones, the search for power sources for driving portable electronics has become increasingly important. The current technology mainly relies on rechargeable batteries. However, considering trillions of different devices widely used in health monitoring, infrastructure and environmental monitoring, internet of things and defense technologies, the traditional batteries may not meet or may not be the choice for power sources. The nanogenerator was invented to meet these technological challenges.

There are currently three effects commonly used for converting tiny physical motion into electricity: piezoelectric, triboelectric and pyroelectric effect. Piezoelectricity, a phenomenon known for centuries, is an effect of the production of electrical potential in a substance as the pressure on it changes. Piezo-photonics has attracted much attention because it may find broad applications in mechano-optical conversion, structural health diagnosis, nondestructive analysis, novel light sources and displays. The piezo-phototronic effect is a result of three-way coupling among piezoelectricity, photonic excitation and semiconductor transport, which allows tuning and controlling of electro-optical processes by strain-induced piezopotential.

This tutorial will include two sessions, the specific learning objectives include an introduction the fundamentals of nanogenerators and piezeoelectronics, including their working principles, material processes, device fabrication, lab-scale test, and practical demonstrations.

Tutorial Schedule