Manufacturing of Self-Powered Nanosensor Systems by Pulsed Laser Processing

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Economically viable self-powered micro and nano devices promise to revolutionize technologies in healthcare, environmental, consumer and military applications. Piezoelectric nanowires can convert mechanical energy into electrical power, and extend the applications for implanted biomedical devices. They can be used where solar energy is unreliable. However, there are significant roadblocks for nano and micro systems to realize their full potential. Current methods used for making these systems require many discrete processes, expensive equipment in addition to a clean room environment resulting in prohibitive cost. Each process requires long preparation, handling and processing times. For faster throughput, huge investments must be made for automation, justifiable only for mass production. In general, cost has become a roadblock against capturing the benefits of most nanotechnology innovations. Therefore, a need in nanomanufacturing is to develop innovative flexible processes that enable integration for efficient small and medium lot size production. This award is to work on a single equipment that can perform multiple tasks required for processing heterogeneous nanomaterials and integrating them into a device. The non-cleanroom method is scalable and has shown more than two-orders-of-magnitude improvement in zinc oxide nanowire performance, reduction of six processes in to one, and reduction of equipment investment by a factor of ten. This research advances the fundamental understanding of the capabilities and performance of this single-step approach for processing and integrating heterogeneous materials and devices. The project plans to recruit female and under-represented minority graduate students, use the research results in new coursework and organize symposia as a platform for stimulating and exchanging new ideas.The overarching goal of this project is to study and develop a novel integrated nanomanufacturing process for self-powered nanosensor systems. The research involves understanding the process-structure-properties-performance relationships in these materials and systems. The objectives of this research project are to uncover the correlations among the nucleation density, growth and morphology of the ZnO nanowire arrays produced by a pulsed laser; the correlation of the piezoelectric properties and the morphology of the ZnO nanowire arrays; the correlation of the performance of the piezoelectric nanogenerator subassembly and the piezoelectric properties, and the integration of a nanosensor into the self-powered nanogenerator system. The main outcome of this research is the understanding of the mechanisms and relationships among pulsed laser parameters, crystal nucleation and morphology control of ZnO nanowire arrays, and its impact on the material properties and performance in self-powered nanosensing systems.