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Growth of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods on Teflon as a novel substrate for low-power flexible light sensors

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Abstract

In this work, vertically aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods were successfully grown by a wet chemical bath deposition method on a ZnO seed-layer-coated Teflon substrate at room temperature. The strong and sharp (0 0 2) peak in the XRD pattern along with the calculated low compressive strain indicated the vertical growth of high-quality crystalline ZnO nanorods along the z-axis on the substrate. The field emission scanning electron microscopy images show the ZnO nanorods to have diameters ranging from 34 to 52 nm. Raman analyses revealed a high E2 (high) peak at 440.23 nm. A flexible ZnO nanorod-based metal–semiconductor–metal UV detector was fabricated. The device showed a sensitivity of 1466. The responsivity (R) of the device is 2.265 A/W, which is 20 times higher than that reported for ZnO-based PDs. Under low power illumination (370 nm, 1.5 mW/cm2), the device showed a relatively fast response and baseline recovery for UV detection. The prototype device shows a simple method for nanorod synthesis and demonstrates the possibility of constructing nanoscale photodetectors for nano-optics applications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nano-Optoelectronics Research and Technology Laboratory, School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia

    O. F. Farhat, M. M. Halim, M. J. Abdullah, M. K. M. Ali & Naser M. Ahmed

  2. Energy Materials Laboratory (EML), Physics Department, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo, 11835, Egypt

    Nageh K. Allam

Authors
  1. O. F. Farhat
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  2. M. M. Halim
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  3. M. J. Abdullah
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  4. M. K. M. Ali
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  5. Naser M. Ahmed
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  6. Nageh K. Allam
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Correspondence to Nageh K. Allam.

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Farhat, O.F., Halim, M.M., Abdullah, M.J. et al. Growth of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods on Teflon as a novel substrate for low-power flexible light sensors. Appl. Phys. A 119, 1197–1201 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-015-9177-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-015-9177-1

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