ZnO Quantum Dot Decorated Zn2SnO4Nanowire Heterojunction Photodetectors with Drastic Performance Enhancement and Flexible Ultraviolet Image Sensors.
Here we report the fabrication of high-performance ultraviolet photodetectors based on a heterojunction device structure in which ZnO quantum dots were used to decorate Zn2SnO4nanowires. Systematic investigations have shown their ultrahigh light-to-dark current ratio (up to 6.8 × 104), specific detectivity (up to 9.0 × 1017Jones), photoconductive gain (up to 1.1 × 107), fast response, and excellent stability. Compared with a pristine Zn2SnO4nanowire, a quantum dot decorated nanowire demonstrated about 10 times higher photocurrent and responsivity. Device physics modeling showed that their high performance originates from the rational energy band engineering, which allows efficient separation of electron-hole pairs at the interfaces between ZnO quantum dots and a Zn2SnO4nanowire. As a result of band engineering, holes migrate to ZnO quantum dots, which increases electron concentration and lifetime in the nanowire conduction channel, leading to significantly improved photoresponse. The enhancement mechanism found in this work can also be used to guide the design of high-performance photodetectors based on other nanomaterials. Furthermore, flexible ultraviolet photodetectors were fabricated and integrated into a 10 × 10 device array, which constitutes a high-performance flexible ultraviolet image sensor. These intriguing results suggest that the band alignment engineering on nanowires can be rationally achieved using compound semiconductor quantum dots. This can lead to largely improved device performance. Particularly for ZnO quantum dot decorated Zn2SnO4nanowires, these decorated nanowires may find broad applications in future flexible and wearable electronics.
State Key Laboratory for Superlattices and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100083, China.|College of Materials Science and Optoelectronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100029, China.
Ludong
L
Li
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Leilei
L
Gu
State Key Laboratory for Superlattices and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100083, China.
Zheng
Z
Lou
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Zhiyong
0000-0002-5397-0129
Z
Fan
State Key Laboratory for Superlattices and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100083, China.|College of Materials Science and Optoelectronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100029, China.
Guozhen
G
Shen
Zn2SnO4 nanowires; ZnO quantum dots; flexible electronics; image sensors; photodetectors