Tetragonal BaTiO3 nanowires: A template-free salt-flux-assisted synthesis and its piezoelectric response based on mechanical energy harvesting

Charoonsuk, Thitirat; Sriphan, Saichon; Nawanil, Chanisa; Chanlek, Narong; Vittayakorn, Wanwilai; Vittayakorn, Naratip

doi:10.1039/c9tc01622h

Tetragonal BaTiO3 nanowires: A template-free salt-flux-assisted synthesis and its piezoelectric response based on mechanical energy harvesting

Author(s)

Charoonsuk, Thitirat

Sriphan, Saichon

Nawanil, Chanisa

Chanlek, Narong

Vittayakorn, Wanwilai

Vittayakorn, Naratip

Date Issued

January 1, 2019

Type

Article

DOI

10.1039/c9tc01622h

Abstract

Intense research has been carried out towards the synthesis of one-dimensional (1D) barium titanate (BaTiO3: BT) because of its high output performance with anisotropic direction, which is expected to be applicable in piezoelectric nanogenerators for self-powered devices. This article emphasizes the essential process in producing BaTiO3: BT nanowires (NWs) in a simple and cost-effective way via a template-free salt-flux-assisted (SFA) method. The single phase of tetragonal BaTiO3 was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) with Rietveld refinement analysis and Raman spectroscopy. The spontaneous polarization of 49.7 μC cm^-2 was calculated. Field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) micrographs show uniform NWs with a diameter of ∼70 nm and a length of more than 2 μm. The corresponding selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern displayed single-crystalline nature within tetragonal symmetry, and the lattice fringes demonstrate growth along the [111]-orientation of the 1D-BaTiO3 nanowires (BT-NWs). Furthermore, this article exhibits progress made in applying energy harvesting nanocomposite materials. The flexible nanocomposite of BT-NWs in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) conductive filler was also prepared simply and cost-effectively. Its piezoelectric response of ∼44.18 V and ∼1.35 μA for the impulsive output voltage and current was investigated after the poling process. A high piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33) of ∼115 pC N^-1 for the poled BT-NWs/CNTs/PDMS device was achieved, which was more than 8 times higher than for the non-poled device. This research summarily represents the choice of a simple way to produce 1D nanomaterials and suggests the possible development of BT-NWs in the application of harvesting/detecting mechanical energy that drives low-powered electronic devices.

Citation

Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 7(27), 8277-8286, 2019