Photoelectric characteristics of the p–n junction between ZnO nanorods and polyaniline nanowires and their application as a UV photodetector

• The ZnO nanorods and ZnO/PANI nanocomposite were well synthesized and fabricated.
• The process of synthesizing and fabrication were simple and convenient.
• The photodetector based on ZnO/PANI shows excellent UV photoelectric properties.
• The obtained photodetectors had different sensitivity to different wavelengths UV.
• The response time in ZnO/PANI composite is faster than the value in ZnO nanorods.

The present work reports a novel ultraviolet (UV) photodetector composed of zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) and polyaniline nanowires (PANI NWs). The ZnO NRs was synthesized by a hydrothermal method and the PANI NWs was synthesized by a chemical oxidation method. The morphology and structure of the samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The optical absorption properties of the samples were characterized with UV–vis absorption spectra. The photoresponse to UV light of the prepared UV photodetectors were characterized with the current–time (I–t) and current–potential (I–V) curves. The results showed that the UV photodetector based on ZnO/PANI nanocomposite had excellent UV photoelectric properties. The fabricated UV photodetector based on ZnO/PANI nanocomposite may have a variety of applications in UV detection.