An investigation on TiO2–ZnO based thick film ‘solar blind’, photo-conductor for ‘green’ electronics

TiO2–ZnO based thick film ‘solar blind’ photo-sensor had been developed for ‘green’ electronics. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of mixtures sintered at 1000 °C for 2 h revealed the appearance only hexagonal phase of ZnO along with successful impregnation of TiO2 in to ZnO whereas the surface morphological studies of the films based on the mixture indicated that the average grain size increased with the addition of a small amount of TiO2 in ZnO. Also the sensitivity greatly increased with increasing the content of TiO2. The sensors showed rapid rise time of 10 s and recovery time of 30 s, respectively, at room temperature. Preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of ZnO–TiO2 system as a thick film “solar blind detector” in the UV-A (∼315–400 nm) range.