Synthesis of ZnO Nanorod Film Deposited by Spraying with Application for Flexible Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Microdevices

Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things have significantly increased the use of sensors and electronic products based on flexible substrates, which require electrical energy for their performance. This electrical energy can be supplied by piezoelectric vibrational energy harvesting (pVEH) devices. These devices can convert energy from ambient mechanical excitations into electrical energy. In order to develop, these devices require piezoelectric films fabricated with a simple and low-cost process. In this work, we synthesize ZnO nanorod film by a solvothermal method and deposit by spraying on ITO (indium-tin-oxide)/PET (polyethylene terephthalate) flexible substrate for a pVEH microdevice. The results of the characterization of the ZnO nanorod film using X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirm the typical reflections for this type of nanomaterial (JCPDS 36-145). Based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, the size of the nanorod film is close to 1380 nm, and the average diameter is 221 ± 67 nm. In addition, the morphological characteristics of the ZnO nanorod film are obtained using atomic force microscopy (AFM) tapping images. The pVEH microdevice has a resonant frequency of 37 Hz, a generated voltage and electrical power of 9.12 V and 6.67 μW, respectively, considering a load resistance of 107.7 kΩ and acceleration of 1.5 g. The ZnO nanorod film may be applied to pVEH microdevices with flexible substrates using a low-cost and easy fabrication process.