3D-branched hierarchical 3C-SiC/ZnO heterostructures for high-performance photodetectors

Abstract

The ultra-sensitive photodetection of different wavelengths holds promising applications in high-performance optoelectronic devices and it requires an efficient and suitable semiconductor unit. Herein, we demonstrated the designable synthesis of 3D-branched hierarchical 3C-SiC/ZnO heterostructures by a three-step process and their assembling into an ultrasensitive photodetector. Microstructure analyses using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveal that the hierarchical 3C-SiC/ZnO heterostructure is composed of single-crystal 3C-SiC nanowires as a central stem and numerous well-aligned single-crystalline ZnO nanorods as branch shells. Optoelectronic tests on the 3C-SiC/ZnO heterostructure photodetector verify the outstanding photo-detection performance with an ultrahigh EQE (1.69 × 10%), a superior photoresponsivity (4.8 × 10 A W), a very fast response time (a rise time of 40 ms and a decay time of 60 ms), a high photo-dark current ratio of 187.8 and an excellent photocurrent stability and reproducibility, which is significantly advantageous or comparable to those of ZnO and other inorganic semiconductor nanostructure based photodetectors. To understand the excellent photodetection of hierarchical 3C-SiC/ZnO heterostructures, a band-gap energy diagram describing the photogenerated electron transport process is plotted and the corresponding mechanism is discussed. The strategy proposed in the present work will open up more opportunities for the design and boost of ultra-sensitive photodetectors based on semiconductor heterostructures.

Regulation of Charge Carrier Dynamics in ZnO Microarchitecture‐Based UV/Visible Photodetector via Photonic‐Strain Induced Effects

“…Here, the ZnO PD current response has been tuned by introducing the induced piezoelectric potentials across the metal–semiconductor (M–S) interface upon external compressive/tensile strains. Latterly, the photocurrent responsivity, gain factor, and broadband wavelengths of ZnO PDs were improved drastically by various ways such as: (i) growth of novel pure nanostructures of ZnO (3D branched type, comb, and crown capped), (ii) foreign elements doping into ZnO nanostructures, and (iii) core–shell type organic/inorganic hybrid structures, respectively. Till now, sodium (Na), gallium (Ga), cadmium (Cd), lithium (Li), cobalt (Co), and gold (Au) elements were substituted into ZnO to improve the photonic properties.…”

High‐Performance Ultraviolet‐Visible Light‐Sensitive 2D‐MoS2/1D‐ZnO Heterostructure Photodetectors

“…It can be seen that the straight ZnO nanowire with an active length of ∼17.9 um directly presses on the surface of MoS 2 layer with a triangle active region. Obviously, the other ends of ZnO nanowire and MoS 2 layer contact with the Ti/Au electrodes using the conditional lift‐off process, respectively, to form the designed p‐MoS 2 /n−ZnO heterostructure PD. As presented in Figure c, the I−V curve indicates an excellent rectifying behavior of the p‐MoS 2 /n‐ZnO heterostructure PD with a turn‐on voltage of ∼1.7 V. The dark current is only 0.88 nA at a bias of +5 V, revealing the weak background signal.…”

Cellular-membrane inspired surface modification of well aligned ZnO nanorods for chemosensing of epinephrine

“…Subsequently a hydrothermal method was employed to grow the ZnO nanorods, as reported in our previous work. 25 The crystallinity and the morphology of the straight aligned ZnO NRs were conrmed by an X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD, Rigaku RINT 2000) operating at 40 kV and 40 mA by using Cu Ka radiation (l ¼ 1.54056Å) and highresolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) images were obtained on JEOL, JEM-3000F. The scanning electron microscope micrographs of the ZnO NRs were obtained on the JEOL, JSM-6700F with an accelerating potential at 20 kV, and a magnication of 5 to 25k at the axial and top view positions.…”