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null (Ed.)A quantitative understanding of the nanoscale piezoelectric property will unlock many application potentials of the electromechanical coupling phenomenon under quantum confinement. In this work, we present an atomic force microscopy- (AFM-) based approach to the quantification of the nanometer-scale piezoelectric property from single-crystalline zinc oxide nanosheets (NSs) with thicknesses ranging from 1 to 4 nm. By identifying the appropriate driving potential, we minimized the influences from electrostatic interactions and tip-sample coupling, and extrapolated the thickness-dependent piezoelectric coefficient ( d 33 ). By averaging the measured d 33 from NSs with the same number of unit cells in thickness, an intriguing tri-unit-cell relationship was observed. From NSs with 3 n unit cell thickness ( n = 1 , 2, 3), a bulk-like d 33 at a value of ~9 pm/V was obtained, whereas NSs with other thickness showed a ~30% higher d 33 of ~12 pm/V. Quantification of d 33 as a function of ZnO unit cell numbers offers a new experimental discovery toward nanoscale piezoelectricity from nonlayered materials that are piezoelectric in bulk.more » « less