Decoration of Ag Nanoparticle on ZnO Nanowire by Intense Pulsed Light and Enhanced UV Photodetector

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) are wide-bandgap semiconductors that absorb ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Various post-treatment processes have been studied to improve the optical properties of the as-grown ZnO NWs. Among them, Ag nanoparticles (NPs) effectively improved the optical properties on the surface of the ZnO NWs. In this study, ZnO NWs were synthesized via the hydrothermal synthesis method. ZnO NWs were decorated with Ag NPs on the surface of the ZnO NWs in a silver nitrate (AgNO3) aqueous solution by intense pulsed light (IPL) irradiation. Ag NPs were successfully decorated under the following conditions: aqueous AgNO3 solution of 100 nM, an energy of 1 J/cm2, and an exposure time of 8 ms. The responsivity and sensitivity of the ZnO NW UV photodetectors increased by 7.43 and 3.37 times, respectively. The IPL process makes it possible to decorate Ag NPs in a simple manner within an extremely short time.

Photothermal‐Induced Electrical Behavior of Micron‐Sized Platinum Structures and Their Efficient Photodetection

“…Therefore, in this Au-NRs/Pt MWs system, the series Pt MWs can collect more thermal changes, and the Au NRs can make the Pt PTE detector more sensitive to photons, both of which contribute to the high photoresponsivity and fast response time of the Au NRs/Pt PTE detector. Compared to other types of metallic nanoparticle based photodetection systems, [48][49][50][51][52][53][54] such as Au NPs/Graphene, [48] Ag NPs/ZnO NWs, [49] Pt NPs/MoS 2 NPs, [50] Al NPs/ZnO NRs. [51] This Au NRs/Pt MWs system achieves a tens of thousands of times improvement in response time, making it competitive with traditional photodetection systems.…”