Giant Improvement of the Performance of ZnO Nanowire Photodetectors by Au Nanoparticles

ZnO nanowire photodetectors with and without Au nanoparticles have been fabricated and investigated. The dark current decreases by 2 orders of magnitude and the ratio of photo current to dark current increases after covering with Au nanoparticles. Meanwhile, the decorated Au nanoparticles can drastically improve the response speed of ZnO nanowire photodetectors. A physical model based on band energy theory was developed to illustrate the origin of the improvement of performance for ZnO nanowire photodetector attached with Au. Our work suggests that rational integration of ZnO wire and metal nanoparticles is a viable approach to improving the performance of ZnO nanowire photodetectors, which may help to advance optoelectronic devices.