poly(acrylamide-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate: Biocompatible ZnO nanocomposites based electrooptic devices for photonic applications

Abstract

poly(AAm-co-HEMA)-ZnO is synthesised by hydrothermal method. poly(AAm-co-HEMA)-ZnO nanocomposite is coated by the drop casting technique on p-Si substrate. The current-voltage (I–V) measurements of Al/poly(AAm-co-HEMA)-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction diodes with (a) 1%, (b) 3% and (c) 5% ZnO are carried out in the dark and illumination intensities of 20–100 mW/cm2 with 20 mW/cm2 steps. It is seen that the optimized or high rectification ratio is possible to obtain in metal/p-Si contacts by suitably choosing ZnO rate in poly(AAm-co-HEMA)-ZnO nanocomposite. The I-V characteristics show exactly the characteristic feature of a photodiode. It is seen that the detectivity (D) and photosensitivity (PS) are more efficient than that of the structure formed without any of the components of nanocomposite. The interface state density (Dit) varies depending on the amount of ZnO in poly(AAm-co-HEMA). Results show that poly(AAm-co-HEMA)-ZnO can be employed in the design of optoelectronic devices, as well as biomedical applications as biomaterial.