ZnO nanorod surface modification with PDDA/PSS Bi-layer assembly for performance improvement of ZnO piezoelectric energy harvesting devices

ZnO nanostructure based energy harvesting devices (ZnO nanogenerator) were fabricated using ZnO nanorods with the surface modified using a polyelectrolyte assembly comprising bi-layers of Polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride and Polystyrene sulfonate. The peak open-circuit voltage device characteristics and power delivered across a load increased in relation to the number of bi-layers in the polyelectrolyte deposition. At the highest loading of polyelectrolyte the energy harvesters generated a peak power density of 426 µW cm−2 and 1 V peak open-circuit voltage at a peak tip acceleration of 50 g. This compares to 35 µW cm−2 without polyelectrolyte. We relate this significant enhancement in device performance to the screening of mobile carriers due to an interaction of the polar polyelectrolyte materials with the surface of the ZnO nanostructures. It is proposed that the adsorption of the polyelectrolyte on the ZnO interacts with the surface defects and reduces the rate of screening and trapping of carriers leading to increased performance.