Hydrothermal growth and ultraviolet sensing performance of well-aligned Ga-doped ZnO nanowire arrays

Herein, gallium (Ga)-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire arrays (GZNWAs) with different Ga doping concentra-tions (Ga/Zn = 0-4 atom%) were grown on the interdigital patterned fluoro-doped tin oxide glass substrates by a hydrothermal technique, their crystalline structure, morphology and ultraviolet (UV) sensing performance were focused on investigating. The results showed that all the as-grown samples were hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. When the Ga doping concentration was below 4%, well-aligned GZNWAs were achieved. Furthermore, five UV photodetectors (PDs) were prepared using the GZNWAs as photoactive layers, all the devices were found to be excellent responses towards 365 nm light. Among these devices, the GZNWAs UV PD (1% Ga) maintained the optimal performance, its responsivity, sensitivity, detectivity, external quantum efficiency, response time and decay time were 72.8 A/W at 5 V, 747.8 at 0 V, 5.5 x 1012 Jones, 2.5 x 104%, 10.6 s and 45.6 s, respectively.

Automated summary

In this study, gallium-doped zinc oxide nanowire arrays with different gallium doping concentrations were grown on glass substrates using a hydrothermal technique. The crystalline structure, morphology, and ultraviolet sensing performance of the samples were investigated. The results showed that well-aligned nanowire arrays could be achieved with gallium doping concentrations below 4%. Additionally, ultraviolet photodetectors prepared using the nanowire arrays exhibited excellent responses to 365 nm light.