Potassium incorporation-induced modification of electrical properties of ZnO nanorods and its application to piezoelectric nanogenerators

In this study, the modification of the electrical properties of ZnO nanorods (NRs) was investigated by incorporating potassium (K) during a hydrothermal process. Structural investigations reveal that the K incorporation improved the crystalline quality of the ZnO NRs with a negligible change in the morphology. The electrical properties of the ZnO NR/p-Si heterojunction indicated a gradual elimination of defect-induced free charge carriers by the incorporation of K element. A piezoelectric nanogenerator was fabricated using the K incorporated ZnO NRs, which showed enhanced piezoelectric output potential due to the elimination of the screening effect by free charge carriers in the NRs.