Effect of vacuumization on the photoluminescence and photoresponse decay of the zinc oxide nanostructures grown by different methods

•Effect of vacuumization on the luminescence of ZnO nanostructures was investigated.•Effect of vacuumization on the photoresponse decay ZnO nanostructures was examined.•ZnO nanowires were produced by the method of gas-transport reactions.•ZnO nanorods were grown by hydrothermal method.•The UV detectors on the basis ZnO nanowires were found to be the most effective.

Influence of vacuumization on the photoluminescence (PL) spectra and photoresponse decay of ZnO nanostructures fabricated by different methods was investigated. The visible band of photoluminescence and ultraviolet (UV) photosensitivity of the samples grown from a vapor phase was associated with the intrinsic defects such as doubly charged zinc vacancies, and for the samples grown by hydrothermal method – with presence of the oxygen vacancies. The experimental results show that ZnO nanostructures grown from the vapor phase would be promising for producing of the low cost and effective UV detecting devices.