Zero- and one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures have been attracting great interests in the past decades for possible applications with two major emphases: (1) synthesis, assembly and integration of nanomaterials; and (2) practical applications in fields such as device, energy and medicine.  Leveraging from our core competencies in MEMS fabrication, we have been working on sensing and energy generation/storage applications of zero- and one-dimensional nanostructures.  I will talk about some of the progresses in these areas including: (1) the application of quantum dots as local thermometers to detect transient intra-cellular temperature profile of living cells as well as temperature distributions of micro structures; (2) direct synthesis and self-aligned 1D nanostructures on arbitrary substrates for applications such as flexible electronics; (3) 1D piezoelectric nanofibers as nanogenerators; and (4) forest structures made of 1D nanostructures for energy storage applications such as supercapacitors and batteries.