Analytical and Numerical Models of Zinc Oxide Nanowire-Based Nanogenerators

Piezoelectric nanogenerators integrating piezoelectric-semiconducting nanowires are multilayer and composite devices [1], making their theoretical study a challenge. The active piezoelectric layer is similar to a 1-3 composite piezoelectric transducer [2], which offers the advantage to enhance the electromechanical coupling compared to a full piezoelectric layer from the same material. This composite consists of a piezoelectric nanostructured layer surrounded by an insulating and soft polymer matrix, which is destined to isolate electrically the nanowires from each other, and to protect them from damage or ageing. As nanogenerators are designed to harvest mechanical energy from human movements, or forces in natural environment (water, wind), or industrial vibrations, the mechanical excitation is rarely purely sinusoidal. This seminar will introduce the simulation tools, which are analytical [3,4], numerical [5,6], or mixed [3,7], that have been developed to estimate the electrical power harvested by a zinc oxide (ZnO) based nanogenerator, for a given dynamic applied force. Moreover, the different physical phenomena influencing the conversion efficiency will be presented, for instance the surface (acceptor) traps which compensate the negative effect of the free charge carriers. Finally, the sensitivity of the harvested energy will be explained relative to the different model parameters, which may be geometrical or physical properties. Some design trends will be proposed, regarding the strategic parameters to optimize in order to enhance the nanogenerator performance.<br/><br/><b>References</b><br/>[1] A. S. Dahiya, F. Morini, S. Boubenia, K. Nadaud, D. Alquier, G. Poulin-Vittrant, Organic/Inorganic hybrid stretchable piezoelectric nanogenerators for self-powered wearable electronics, Advanced Materials Technologies (2017) 1700249, 11 pp., https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.201700249<br/>[2] O. Graton, G. Poulin-Vittrant, A. S. Dahiya, N. Camara, L.P. Tran-Huu-Hue and M. Lethiecq, Equivalent circuit model of a nanogenerator based on a piezoelectric nanowire - polymer composite, Phys. Status Solidi RRL, vol. 7, issue 10 (Oct. 2013) pp. 915-918, ISSN 1862-6270, https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.201308017<br/>[3] O. Graton, G. Poulin-Vittrant, L-P Tran Huu Hue, M. Lethiecq, Modelling tools for the simulation of microgenerators based on piezo-semiconducting nanowires, Proceedings of Acoustics 2012, Nantes, France, 23 - 27 April 2012, 5 pp.<br/>[4] K. Nadaud, G. Poulin-Vittrant, D. Alquier, Effect of the excitation waveform on the average power and peak power delivered by a piezoelectric generator, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 133 (2019) 106278<br/>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2019.106278<br/>[5] E. Dumons, L. P. Tran-Huu-Hue, G. Poulin-Vittrant, Energy balance numerical study in ZnO nanowires based nanogenerator, Proc. of IEEE ISAF 2022 Conference, Tours, France, June 27-July 1, 2022<br/>[6] E. Dumons, G. Poulin-Vittrant, L. P. Tran-Huu-Hue, Stress cycle on a ZnO nanowire - based nanogenerator: a phenomenological study, 11th National Days on Energy Harvesting and Storage (JNRSE) 2022, Bordeaux, France, July 8 2021<br/>[7] N. Doumit, G. Poulin-Vittrant, Effect of the dielectric and mechanical properties of the polymer matrix on ZnO nanowire based composite nanogenerators performance, Advanced Theory and Simulations, Vol. 3, Issue 9 (September 2020) 2000128, https://doi.org/10.1002/adts.202000128