Study of Di-/Ferro-/Piezoelectric Properties of Sm³⁺-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles

Pristine ZnO and Sm-doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized using a wet chemical co-precipitation technique. The morphological and structural characteristics of pristine and Sm-doped ZnO were studied by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Increases in lattice parameters, interplanar spacing, and volume was observed from the XRD patterns compared to its JCPDS card. Crystallite size, dislocation density, deformation stress, lattice strain, and energy density for both pristine and Sm-ZnO nanoparticles were calculated using Scherrer and Williamson–Hall (W–H) methods. An energy bandgap reduction was observed in the Sm-doped ZnO (E_g ~ 2.7 eV), which played a crucial role in explaining the increased leakage currents in Sm-ZnO. The Sm-doped ZnO nanoparticles exhibited a remnant polarization (P_r ~ 0.163 µC/cm²) and a coercive field (E_c ~ 25.33 kV/cm). Current–voltage (I–V) characteristics show maximum current generated on applying varying voltages (V_max = 40 V, I_max = ~600 μA). Frequency- and temperature-dependent dielectric studies were conducted to examine the change in the values of the dielectric constant and dielectric loss with the variation in frequency and temperature. The Sm-doped ZnO-based nanogenerator generated an output voltage ~ 400 mV at tapping force of ~ 0.02 kgf, which makes it a prominent candidate for self-powered devices.