All solution processed, nanowire enhanced ultraviolet photodetectors

Abstract

We report on the fabrication and characterization of transparent and fully solution processed, nanowire based ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors with high responsivity. For this purpose, UV sensitive zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires were grown hydrothermally on transparent electrodes formed by spray coated network of silver (Ag) nanowires. Fabricated UV photodetectors showed short recovery time, around 4 s, with a decent on/off ratio of 2600. Effect of in-situ annealing and nanowire length was investigated. Our design provides a simple and cost effective approach for the fabrication of high performance UV photodetectors.