Fabrication of UV photo-detector based on coral reef like p-NiO/n-ZnO nanocomposite structures

•We have fabricated the UV detector using NiO nanostructures on ZnO nanorods.•NiO/ZnO nanocomposite exhibited good I–V characteristics.•The photodiode showed excellent UV response with responsivity of 2.27 A/W.

In this research work, a UV photo-detector is fabricated on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate by exploiting the advantageous features of p–n heterojunctions based on p-NiO and n-ZnO composite nanostructures forming a coral-reef like structures. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction results showed uniform morphology and good crystal quality of the synthesised nanostructures respectively. I–V measurements have shown nonlinear and rectifying response of the p-NiO/n-ZnO heterojunction. The proposed photodiode exhibited excellent UV response with acceptable photocurrent generation of about 3.4 mA and the responsivity of 2.27 A/W at −3 biasing voltage.