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Visible-Blind UV Photodetector Based on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Thin Film/ZnO Vertical Heterostructures

Journal Article · · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors based on heterojunctions of conventional (Ge, Si, and GaAs) and wide bandgap semiconductors have been recently demonstrated, but achieving high UV sensitivity and visible-blind photodetection still remains a challenge. Here in this work, we utilized a semitransparent film of p-type semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SC-SWNTs) with an energy gap of 0.68 ± 0.07 eV in combination with a molecular beam epitaxy grown n-ZnO layer to build a vertical p-SC-SWNT/n-ZnO heterojunction-based UV photodetector. The resulting device shows a current rectification ratio of 103, a current photoresponsivity up to 400 A/W in the UV spectral range from 370 to 230 nm, and a low dark current. The detector is practically visible-blind with the UV-to-visible photoresponsivity ratio of 105 due to extremely short photocarrier lifetimes in the one-dimensional SWNTs because of strong electron–phonon interactions leading to exciton formation. Finallyl, in this vertical configuration, UV radiation penetrates the top semitransparent SC-SWNT layer with low losses (10–20%) and excites photocarriers within the n-ZnO layer in close proximity to the p-SC-SWNT/n-ZnO interface, where electron–hole pairs are efficiently separated by a high built-in electric field associated with the heterojunction.
Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Spins and Heat in Nanoscale Electronic Systems (SHINES)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012670
OSTI ID:
1470128
Journal Information:
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Journal Name: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces Journal Issue: 42 Vol. 9; ISSN 1944-8244
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Surface-Engineered Nanostructure-Based Efficient Nonpolar GaN Ultraviolet Photodetectors journal February 2018
High-Performance Ultraviolet Photodetector Based on Graphene Quantum Dots Decorated ZnO Nanorods/GaN Film Isotype Heterojunctions journal August 2018
High-Performance Ultraviolet Photodetector Based on a Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle@Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Heterojunction Hybrid Film journal February 2020
Enhancing the Photoelectric Performance of Photodetectors Based on Metal Oxide Semiconductors by Charge-Carrier Engineering journal January 2019
Recent Advances in Applications of Sorted Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes journal May 2019
Photoelectric Detectors Based on Inorganic p-Type Semiconductor Materials journal June 2018
Global Photocurrent Generation in Phototransistors Based on Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes toward Highly Sensitive Infrared Detection journal August 2019
Low noise ultraviolet photodetector with over 100% enhanced lifetime based on polyfluorene copolymer and ZnO nanoparticles journal April 2018
Ultrahigh Responsivity UV Photodetector Based on Cu Nanostructure/ZnO QD Hybrid Architectures journal May 2019
Evolution of optical properties and electronic structures: band gaps and critical points in Mg x Zn 1−x O (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) thin films journal January 2018
Facilitated extrinsic majority carrier depletion and photogenerated exciton dissociation in an annealing-free ZnO:C photodetector journal January 2018
A ZnO nanowire-based microfiber coupler for all-optical photodetection applications journal January 2019
Engineering carbon quantum dots for enhancing the broadband photoresponse in a silicon process-line compatible photodetector journal January 2019
Oxygen desorption kinetics of ZnO nanorod–gated AlGaN/GaN HEMT-based UV photodetectors journal July 2018
High performance charge-transfer induced homojunction photodetector based on ultrathin ZnO nanosheet journal January 2019

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