Abstract

The ever-growing global market for smart wearable technologies and Internet of Things (IoT) has increased the demand for sustainable and multifunctional nanomaterials synthesized by low-cost and energy-efficient processing technologies. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a key material for this purpose due to the variety of facile methods that exist to produced ZnO nanostructures with tailored sizes, morphologies, and optical and electrical properties. In particular, ZnO nanostructures with a porous structure are advantageous over other morphologies for many applications because of their high specific surface area. In this chapter, a literature review on the latest progress regarding the synthesis and applications of ZnO with a porous morphology will be provided, with special focus on the synthesis by microwave hydrothermal method of these nanomaterials and their potential for application in energy harvesting devices. Nanogenerators of a composite made by polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and porous ZnO nanostructures were explored and optimized, with an output voltage of (4.5 ± 0.3) V being achieved for the best conditions. The daily life applicability of these devices was demonstrated by lighting up a commercial LED, by manually stimulating the nanogenerator directly connected to the LED.

Highlights

  • Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an inorganic semiconductor material that has been applied in a wide range of applications over the last centuries [1]

  • This work aims to demonstrate the potential of high surface area porous ZnO nanostructures for energy harvesting devices, showing original and novel results regarding the characterization of nanogenerators based on these structures

  • These results prove the applicability of these nanogenerators in simple daily life applications and demonstrate their potential to power wearable sensors or multifunctional platforms where these porous ZnO nanostructures are employed in more than one application

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Summary

Introduction

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an inorganic semiconductor material that has been applied in a wide range of applications over the last centuries [1]. ZnO is a low-cost and biocompatible material with high photostability, high chemical and thermal stability, low toxicity, and a broad range of UV radiation absorption [13]. These properties allow ZnO to be applied in a wide range of applications besides electronic devices, such as skin ointments and sunscreens, rubber tires, paints, bioimaging, drug delivery, biosensors, antibacterial textiles, and photocatalysis for the degradation of pollutants in wastewaters [1, 14–19]. The triboelectric effect results from the surface charges’ generation subsequent from the friction between two different materials (with opposite triboelectric polarities) [22]

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