Potential measurement from a single lead ziroconate titanate nanofiber using a nanomanipulator

Direct piezoelectric potential measurement of single lead ziroconate titanate (PZT) nanofiber under bending using a nanomanipulator inside a scanning electron microscope chamber was presented. The PZT nanofibers, with the diameter and length around 100 nm and 70–100 μm, respectively, were aligned across trenches on a silicon substrate with a thermally grown oxide diffusion barrier and evaporated gold electrodes. A potential of ∼0.4 mV was generated when a bending moment was applied to a PZT nanofiber with an effective length of 4 μm by a tungsten tip of the nanomanipulator. The experiment demonstrated the feasibility of using these PZT nanofibers for nanoscale sensing, actuation, and energy harvesting.