Simple fabrication of a ZnO nanorod array UV detector with a high performance

• A novel UV photodetector on the basis of ZnO nanorod arrays was created by a simple method.
• The fabricated ZnO nanorods UV photodetector showed much better performance than the conventional ZnO film photodetector.
• The much better performance of the ZnO nanorods UV photodetector was due to the larger surface-to-volume ratio and better crystal quality of the ZnO nanorods.

Well-aligned ZnO nanorod (NR) arrays were grown on the indium-tin-oxide glass through a hydrothermal method. A novel and simple method was created to fabricate the high-performance ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors on the basis of the ZnO NR arrays. When the ZnO NRs device is under 365-nm UV illumination (2.01 mW/cm2), it showed a photocurrent of ~308.04 μA, an on/off ratio of ~5.13×102 and a fast decay time constant of 1.69 s at 1 V applied bias. The performance of the ZnO NRs device was much better than that of the conventional ZnO film device. The superior photoresponse of the ZnO NRs device is due to the larger surface-to-volume ratio and better crystal quality of ZnO NRs. The ZnO NRs device has great potential for application in UV detection and is promising for large-scale production.

A high-performance UV photodetector on the basis of ZnO nanorod arrays was created and characterized, and the mechanism for a much better performance of the ZnO nanorods UV detector than that of the ZnO film detector was demonstrated.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide