Numerical modeling and simulation of ZnO nanowire devices for energy harvesting

Duo to their multifunctional properties, the piezoelectric ZnO nanowires are of great interest in many applications such as the energy harvesting. In this work, a numerical modelling based on the finite element method was performed to study the potential distribution inside the ZnO nanowire and the impact of the geometric parameters on the generated piezopotential both in bending and compression deformation. In this context, a nanowire discharge behavioural study was carried out in order to obtain an analytic expression which connects the piezopotential and nanowire geometrical parameters in the bending deformation. Furthermore, a heuristic algorithm Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) has been used in order to improve the electromechanical performance of ZnO nanowire based nanogenerator. It is fount that under the same order of force applied on a nanowire, the compression mode results in a piezopotential 9 times larger than that in the bending deformation. (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)