Illumination intensity dependent photoresponse of ultra-thin ZnO/graphene/ZnO heterostructure

A heterostructure of zinc oxide (ZnO) and single layer graphene is fabricated by sandwiching a transferred graphene between two thin ZnO films (∼20 nm each). ZnO thin films were grown using decomposition of Zn(acac)2 and spin-coating technique. Graphene transfer route with PMMA temporary carrier and metal etching process was used to transfer high quality commercial graphene from copper foil on the zinc oxide surface on glass. This novel and ultra-thin heterostructure (∼40 nm) is sensitive for UV illumination and works as a photodetector (PD). In this device, both positive and negative photoconductivity (PC) were observed depends on illumination intensity and spectrum of incident light. Relatively long response and recovery times obtained in ZnO/G/ZnO structure are related to the metastable defect states of ZnO and its interfaces with graphene and/or silver contacts. The obtained results show that the transferred single layer graphene sheet between thin ZnO films could be a novel route for improvement properties this low-cost metal oxide.