Piezo and photoelectric coupled nanogenerator using CdSe quantum dots incorporated ZnO nanowires in ITO/ZnO NW/Si structure

We report the fabrication of ITO/n-ZnO NW/p-Si sandwiched structure and its photoelectric and piezoelectric conversion properties. This hybrid cell was designed to harvest simultaneously both solar and mechanical energies. ZnO nanowires used in the work were grown on p-type Si substrates employing seed mediated low-temperature aqueous solution method. The synthesized ZnO nanowires were characterized by XRD, SEM and EDX characterization for their structural and morphological evaluation. The as-grown ZnO nanowires showed good crystallinity with c-axis preferable orientation. Free ZnO nanowires and CdSe quantum dots were also incorporated with the vertically grown nanowires and their response in harvesting optical and mechanical energies were investigated. The piezoelectric and photoelectric coupled effects of a ZnO nanowire device in the simultaneous conversion of both optical and mechanical energies have been studied for the first time with the goal of designing piezoelectric and photoelectric hybrid nanogenerator. This presented ITO/n-ZnO NW/p-Si heterojunction architecture is envisaged as a potentially valuable candidate for the next generation energy harvesting devices. Graphene-coated ITO was also used and its response was studied.