Enhancing UV photoconductivity of ZnO nanobelt by polyacrylonitrile functionalization

J. H. He*, Yen H. Lin, Michael E. McConney, Vladimir V. Tsukruk, Zhong L. Wang, Gang Bao

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

132 Scopus citations

Abstract

UV photodetector fabricated using a single ZnO nanobelt (NB) has shown a photoresponse enhancement up to 750 times higher than that of a bare ZnO NB after coating with ∼20 nm plasma polymerized acrylonitrile (PP-AN) nanoscale film. The mechanism for this colossal photoconductivity is suggested as a consequence of the efficient exciton dissociation under UV illumination due to enhanced electron transfer from valence band of ZnO NB to the PP-AN and then back to the conduction band of ZnO. This process has demonstrated an easy and effective method for improving the performance of the nanowireNB-based devices, possibly leading to supersensitive UV detector for applications in imaging, photosensing, and intrachip optical interconnects.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number084303
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
Volume102
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH as a Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology (1U01HL80711 to G.B.) and by the National Cancer Institute of the NIH as a Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (5U54CA119338 to G.B. and Z.L.W.). The authors thank T. J. Bunning, H. Jiang, and J. O. Enlow (AFRL) for technical assistance.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Enhancing UV photoconductivity of ZnO nanobelt by polyacrylonitrile functionalization'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this