P-CuO nanowire/n-ZnO nanosheet heterojunction-based near-UV sensor fabricated by electroplating and thermal oxidation process

Abstract

Nanostructured metal oxide semiconductors (MOSs) are widely used in the field of sensors. Different from the traditional single MOS based sensors, heterojunction-based sensors using two different MOS materials can take advantage of the charge separation effect at the heterojunction interface for an enhanced sensing mechanism. In this work, an in-situ synthesis method of p-CuO nanowire/n-ZnO nanosheet heterojunctions and its application for near-ultraviolet light detection was demonstrated. A rectifying behavior arising from the heterojunctions was observed in the I-V characterization. Under different illumination conditions, the photocurrent obeys a power law with a detection limit around 16.8 mW/mm2, validating the potential for near-UV sensing applications.