A Self-Powered Nanophotodetector System with High UV Photocurrent

We design and fabricate a relatively independent UV nanophotodetector system with p-n heterojunction that is composed of ZnO nanorods and PANI nanorods, which shows a surprised UV photocurrent. When the system is works, no any external power is applied except UV irradiation. In this system, two opposite p-n junctions are combined to form a special structure, one is regarded as a photocell and the other is as a p-n diode. Compared to the early structure of ZnO nanowires/PANI nanofibers, the novel structure with intersecting ZnO and PANI nanorods, in which p-n heterjunction has been added and the ZnO has been modified with 25 layers of PSS shows higher increase of UV photocurrent by nearly 10000 times (from similar to 10(-8) to similar to 10(-4) A). It is clear that this increase in order of magnitude provides an opportunity for the subsequent development of nanophotodetector that does not require any additional external power supply except UV light.