October 7, 2022

About the speaker

Mr. Christopher Munoz is a current graduate student researcher for the Photonics & Energy Research Lab (PERL) pursuing a Master’s degree in Chemistry at UTRGV and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Florida A&M University. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from UTRGV in the Spring of ’22. Christopher’s current research is in metal oxide synthesis methods, morphological tuning of nanoparticles, and mechanical solutions to enhance piezoelectric/triboelectric effect of metal oxide crystals for energy harvesting applications. Christopher views his research work as a creative exercise in the exploration of possible solutions to the negative effects of climate change.

Additional authors are Tamanna Zakia, Cristian Alaniz, and M. Jasim Uddin from the Photonics and Energy Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 1201 W. University Drive, Edinburg, Texas, TX-78539, USA

ZnSnO3 Hollow Nanorod/PDMS Based Piezoelectric Nano-generator for Harvesting Mechanical Energy

Piezoelectric materials are comparatively new among other alternative energy sources. Harvesting waste mechanical energy through these materials can be a potential solution of the increasing energy demand. In response to applied mechanical stress, piezoelectric materials accumulate electric charges on their surface. Upon connecting with a circuit, accumulated charges can flow and generate electricity. Based on this hypothesis piezoelectric nano-generator has been fabricated. Binary semiconducting oxides such as ZnO, TiO2 and SnO2 have attracted immense interest as they have unique properties of electron mobility. However, there is always a need for specially designed semiconductors to better match with the properties. This interest has turned the research focus in search of suitable ternary oxide semiconductors known as perovskite. Among other perovskite compounds, ZnSnO3 has attracted the attention due to its high electrical conductivity. In this study, we reported crystal growth of hexagonal hollow ZnSnO3 nanorod and investigated the piezoelectric properties for different concentration of ZnSnO3-PDMS film. Hydrothermal synthesis was carried out for the formation of ZnSnO3. We explored different variables (temperature, pH and reaction time) to observe the morphology and surface structure. Variation in reaction time showed significantly distinct structure of nanorod. XRD, XPS, EDX, SEM have been carried out to characterize the material. Piezo-potential has been measured for different frequencies. Maximum 40 V open circuit voltage and 23 µA short-circuit current produced under 120 BPM.