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Publisher

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Abstract

The advent of nanotechnology has brought about innovative ideas for the solving of the world’s problems. For example, Zinc Oxide nanowires, being piezoelectric, pose a simple solution to the big problem of renewable energy. Piezoelectric materials produce an electric current when they are deformed. In particular, this is an attractive property for systems whose operation produces high frequency vibrations, such as aircraft. Using a simple sandwich of a conductive substrate, Zinc Oxide nanowires coated in PolyVinylideneDiFlouride (PVDF), and a conductive top layer, an electricity generating device can be built. Forming the device involves obtaining an appropriate thickness for the piezoelectric PVDF film and a layer with minimal cracking. In this work, an introduction of the fundamental concepts related to the device will be given along with a summary of the PVDF activities pursued thus far. It will be shown that such a device is indeed theoretically sound. Also, obtaining a uniform PVDF layer is possible, but an acceptable thickness proves challenging to obtain.

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