Combustion Synthesized Electrospun InZnO Nanowires for Ultraviolet Photodetectors

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors play an important role in numerous commercial and scientific applications. The UV photodetectors based on binary-cation indium zinc oxide (InZnO) thin films exhibit great performance enhancement, compared with their single-cation counterparts. However, UV photodetectors based on 1D InZnO nanowires could potentially exhibit more superior optoelectrical performance, due to the large surface-to-volume ratio and favorable carrier transport characteristics of nanowires. This work has combined combustion synthesis with electrospinning technique to efficiently fabricate InZnO nanowire-based UV photodetectors. At the annealing temperature of 375 degrees C, the newly designed InZnO nanowire photodetectors exhibit excellent photoelectric performance under the irradiation of 310 nm UV light, including a photo-to-dark current ratio of 1.2 x 10(4), a photo responsivity of 2.8 x 10(3) A W-1, and a high detectivity of 2.4 x 10(16) Jones. This study not only demonstrates the opportunity to construct new-generation transparent electronics based on 1D metal oxide nanowires but also sheds new light on how to further decrease the annealing temperature of metal oxide nanowire devices for low-temperature fabrication processes.

Automated summary

UV photodetectors based on InZnO nanowires show excellent photoelectric performance, with high photo-to-dark current ratio, photo responsivity, and detectivity. This study explores the potential of constructing transparent electronics and lowering annealing temperatures for metal oxide nanowire devices.