Nanotubes, nanorods and nanowires having piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric properties and devices manufactured therefrom

1. A device comprising:

a pair of electrodes; and

a nanorod and/or a nanowire; the nanorod and/or nanowire comprising a piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric polymeric composition; the pair of electrodes being in electrical communication with opposing surfaces of the nanorod and/or a nanowire; the pair of electrodes being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the nanorod and/or a nanowire.

2. The device of claim 1 , further comprising an electrical circuit in electrical communication with the pair of electrodes.

3. The device of claim 1 , further comprising an array of nanorods and/or nanowires disposed between the pair of electrodes and in electrical communication with the electrodes.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the pair of electrodes is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the nanorod and/or the nanowire.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the pair of electrodes comprises an electrically conducting metal, a metal oxide, an electrically conducting polymer, or a combination comprising at least one of the conducting metal, the metal oxide and the electrically conducting polymer.

6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the metal is gold, silver, platinum, copper, aluminum, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing metals.

7. The device of claim 5 , wherein the metal oxide is indium tin oxide, antimony tin oxide, tin oxide, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing metal oxides.

8. The device of claim 5 , wherein the electrically conducting polymer is a polypyrrole, a polythiophene, a polyacetylene, a polyaniline, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing electrically conducting polymers.

9. The device of claim 5 , wherein the metal is gold.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the pair of electrodes comprises pairs of sub-electrodes, each pair of sub-electrodes contacting the nanorod and/or the nanowire.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the sub-electrodes have surfaces that have different shapes and wherein the shapes are square, rectangular, circular, triangular, polygonal, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing shapes.

12. The device of claim 10 , wherein each pair of sub-electrodes is insulated from a neighboring pair of sub-electrodes.

13. The device of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric polymeric composition comprises a polymer that has piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric properties.

14. The device of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric polymeric composition comprises polyvinylidene fluoride.

15. The device of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric polymeric composition comprises a piezoelectric filler; wherein the piezoelectric filler is quartz, berlinite, topaz, tourmaline group materials, barium titanate, lead titanate, lead zirconate titanate, potassium niobate, lithium niobate, lithium tantalate, sodium tungstate, Ba 2 NaNb 5 O 5 , Pb 2 KNb 5 O 15 , or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing piezoelectric fillers.

16. The device of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric polymeric composition comprises a piezoelectric filler in an amount of up to about 80 weight percent of the total weight of the piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric polymeric composition.

17. The device of claim 1 , wherein the piezoelectric and/or pyroelectric polymeric composition comprises an electrically conducting filler.

18. An article that comprises the device of claim 1 .

19. The article of claim 18 , wherein the article is a nano- and micro-electro-mechanical system.

20. The article of claim 18 , wherein the article is a sensor, an actuator or an energy generator.