Fabricating 1D In-doped ZnO nanorod arrays nanogenerator via chemical bath deposition and enhance output performance by irradiation with ultraviolet light

This work reports on the fabrication and characterization of ZnO (IZO-0) and indium-doped ZnO nanorod (IZO-3 NR) nanogenerators (NGs) prepared via chemical bath deposition. One-dimensional (1D) ZnO nanorods were synthesized on ZnO/ITO glass substrates through a hydrothermal process conducted at 90 °C for 6 h. Material characteristics, including morphology, crystallinity, elemental composition, and optical properties, were investigated using FE-SEM, XRD, TEM, EDS, UV/Vis, XPS, and PL. XRD results showed that the strongest peaks of the IZO-0 and IZO-3 samples appeared at the (002) plane, indicating preferential growth of the nanostructures along the c-axis, consistent with the hexagonal wurtzite structure. SEM images revealed that the thickness and diameter of ZnO nanorods increased significantly upon indium doping. EDS measurements from SEM and TEM further confirmed the incorporation of indium into the ZnO nanorods. The IZO-0 and IZO-3 NGs consisted of a sandwich structure with upper and lower electrodes and were encapsulated with heat-sealing film. An ultrasonic oscillator served as the vibration source. The output power of the IZO-0 NG was measured to be 0.7486 nW, while that of the IZO-3 NG increased to 378.9 nW under ultraviolet irradiation, representing an overall improvement of approximately 523 times. These results demonstrate that indium doping significantly enhances the performance of nanogenerators.