ABSTRACT: The well-aligned and vertical ZnO nanowires
were grown on PET substrates by the hydrothermal method.
The novel piezoelectric nanogenerator was fabricated from
ZnO nanowires and a Pt/ZnO nanowire electrode on a flexible
PET substrate. A sample was compressed and bent generating
internal stress in the PET substrate, which output a current of
approximately 5 × 10−10 A without a source of vibration. The
sample with 2% bending was also measured with vibration at a
low frequency, yielding a maximum piezoelectric current of
about 2.5 × 10−7 A, which is 4 times the current of a
nonbending sample. These results demonstrate that a little
bending of a flexible substrate improves piezoelectric performance