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Plasmonic enhancement of optical absorption of UV radiation by Au nanoparticles dispersed on ZnO thin film

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Abstract

Ultraviolet photoconductivity in sol gel-derived ZnO thin film loaded with gold (Au) nanoparticle (NPs) is investigated. Au-NPs loaded ZnO thin film (Au-NPs/ZnO) is found to exhibit high photoconducting gain (K) of about 4.12 × 103 as compared to the bare ZnO thin film-based photodetector (4.9 × 101). The enhanced photoconductive gain of Au-NPs/ZnO detector has been achieved due to simultaneous lowering of dark current which occurs due to Schottky barrier effect originated after dispersing the Au NPs on the surface of ZnO thin film. The enhancement in photocurrent upon UV illumination is due to trapping of UV radiation via plasmonic effect caused by Au-NPs and subsequently coupling of absorbed light with the optical modes of underlying semiconducting ZnO surface.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India. One of the authors (A.R.) is thankful to UGC for research fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India

    Akshta Rajan & Vinay Gupta

  2. Physics Department, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India

    Harish K. Yadav

  3. Physics Department, Miranda House, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India

    Monika Tomar

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  1. Akshta Rajan
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  2. Harish K. Yadav
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  3. Vinay Gupta
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  4. Monika Tomar
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Correspondence to Monika Tomar.

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Rajan, A., Yadav, H.K., Gupta, V. et al. Plasmonic enhancement of optical absorption of UV radiation by Au nanoparticles dispersed on ZnO thin film. Appl. Phys. A 116, 913–919 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8462-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8462-8

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