Piezoelectricity in zincblende polar semiconductor nanowires: A theoretical study

A systematic evaluation of the piezoelectrically induced electric polarization vector and the associated potential on the application of mechanical strain to charge-free semiconductor nanowires with zincblende crystal structure is reported. It is found that the bending mode which is easier to realize in practice over stable compressional modes generates maximum piezo energy for these zincblende semiconductor nanowires. Also zincblende ZnO nanowires are found to be superior over zincblende AlN and GaN wires for piezo energy harvesting.