Piezo-phototronic Effect Enhanced Visible/UV Photodetector of a Carbon-Fiber/ZnO-CdS Double-Shell Microwire

Abstract

A branched ZnO-CdS double-shell NW array on the surface of a carbon fiber (CF/ZnO-CdS) was successfully synthesized <i>via</i> a facile two-step hydrothermal method. Based on a single CF/ZnO-CdS wire on a polymer substrate, a flexible photodetector was fabricated, which exhibited ultrahigh photon responsivity under illuminations of blue light (1.11 × 10⁵ A/W, 8.99 × 10^–8 W/cm², 480 nm), green light (3.83 × 10⁴ A/W, 4.48 × 10^–8 W/cm², 548 nm), and UV light (1.94 × 10⁵ A/W, 1.59 × 10^–8 W/cm², 372 nm), respectively. The responsivity of this broadband photon sensor was enhanced further by as much as 60% when the device was subjected to a −0.38% compressive strain. This is because the strain induced a piezopotential in ZnO, which tunes the barrier height at the ZnO–CdS heterojunction interface, leading to an optimized optoelectronic performance. This work demonstrates a promising application of piezo-phototronic effect in nanoheterojunction array based photon detectors.