Zinc Oxide ( ZnO ) Nanorings � Potential Nanoscale Piezoelectrics and Sensors - News Item: "Researchers at Georgia Tech have produced the latest nano-sized structure, adding to the existing buckyballs, nanotubes, nanobelts and even nanosprings. Nanorings are complete circles formed by a self-coiling process.
The nanorings produced by Georgia Tech are based on single crystals of zinc oxide (ZnO). Zinc oxide is also significant in that it is semiconducting and possesses piezoelectric properties. This means that the nanorings could be used as sensors, resonators and transducers.
The nanorings are made up of fine nanobelts that are rolled up as coils layer by layer with as many as a hundred loops, forming a seamless ring structure. They consist of a uniformly deformed single crystal of zinc oxide."