A fully-printed plasmonic nanoparticle-incorporated ZnO-based UV photodetector with very high responsivity and fast response

Abstract

We report the development of a fully printed plasmonic Ag nanoparticle-enhanced ZnO-nanoparticle-based photodetector (PD) for the efficient detection of ultraviolet (UV) light. The contact electrodes with a gap of 200 µm are printed on a SiO2/Si substrate, and a micropattern of Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) is printed within the electrode gap to generate the plasmonic effect. The ZnO nanoparticle thin film is printed onto the array of Ag NPs to fabricate the plasmon-enhanced UV PD. The printed devices exhibit impressive performance with a peak responsivity of 48.8 A W−1, external quantum efficiency of 1.7 × 104%, and detectivity of 1.3 × 1013 Jones at 5 V bias. Moreover, the device shows an ultrafast photoresponse with a rise time of 24.3 µs and a fall time of 33.1 µs. Finite element method-based simulations confirm a significant field enhancement within the ZnO matrix upon incorporation of plasmonic Ag nanoparticles, explaining the increased photoresponse. The performance of the printed plasmon-enhanced UV-PD here offers a promising, simple, and inexpensive approach for the fabrication of future optoelectronic devices.