Cu-doped ZnO nanowires for efficient and multispectral photodetection applications

Cu-doped ZnO nanowires exhibiting high sensitivity to both UV and visible light are prepared by a vapor-liquid-solid method. The nanowires are highly resistive in the dark but exhibit several orders of magnitude enhancement in photoconductivity under UV and white-light irradiation because of an avalanche-type photocarrier multiplication effect, paving the way for their use in nanoscale photodetection applications.