Sensitive, fast, solution-processed ultraviolet detectors based on passivated zinc oxide nanorods.

Solution-processed ultraviolet photodetectors based on passivated and unpassivated zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods, in which the ZnO nanoparticles are synthesized by a hydrothermal method, are demonstrated and characterized. Photoconductive photodetectors fabricated using simple solution processing have recently been shown to exhibit high gains and outstanding sensitivities. One ostensible disadvantage of exploiting photoconductive gain is that the temporal response is limited by the release of carriers from trap states. Herein, specific chemical species are introduced onto the surfaces of ZnO nanoparticles to produce desired trap states with a carefully selected lifetime. Compared with conventional photodetectors based on ZnO nanoparticles, the proposed UV photodetectors have much higher photoresponses and faster response times in the UV region. The photoconductive gain of the fabricated photodetectors varies from 26.83 to 2.32×10(2) for passivated samples, which indicates high gain. The best temporal response for the fabricated detectors is 34 ms rise time and 132 ms decay time for ZnO nanoparticles passivated by hexamethylenetetramine.