Abstract
Ultraviolet photodetectors have applications in fields such as medicine, communications and defence, and are typically made from single-crystalline silicon, silicon carbide or gallium nitride p-n junction photodiodes. However, such inorganic photodetectors are unsuitable for certain applications because of their high cost and low responsivity (<0.2AW(-1)). Solution-processed photodetectors based on organic materials and/or nanomaterials could be significantly cheaper to manufacture, but their performance so far has been limited. Here, we show that a solution-processed ultraviolet photodetector with a nanocomposite active layer composed of ZnO nanoparticles blended with semiconducting polymers can significantly outperform inorganic photodetectors. As a result of interfacial trap-controlled charge injection, the photodetector transitions from a photodiode with a rectifying Schottky contact in the dark, to a photoconductor with an ohmic contact under illumination, and therefore combines the low dark current of a photodiode and the high responsivity of a photoconductor (∼721-1,001AW(-1)). Under a bias of <10V, our device provides a detectivity of 3.4×10(15)Jones at 360nm at room temperature, which is two to three orders of magnitude higher than that of existing inorganic semiconductor ultraviolet photodetectors.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.