Strong piezoelectricity in individual GaN nanowires

Majid Minary-Jolandan, Rodrigo A. Bernal, Horacio D. Espinosa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

GaN nanowires are promising building blocks for future nanoelectronics, optoelectronic devices, and nanogenerators. Here, we report on strong piezoelectricity in individual single-crystal GaN nanowires revealed by direct measurement of the piezoelectric constant using piezoresponse force microscopy. Our experimental results show that individual c-axis GaN nanowires, with a characteristic dimension as small as 65 nm, show a shear piezoelectric constant of d15 ~ 10 pm/V, which is several times that measured in bulk. The revealed strong piezoelectricity could open promising opportunities for application of GaN nanowires in nanowire-based sensors and generators for self-powered nanodevices.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)45-48
Number of pages4
JournalMRS Communications
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2011
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science

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