Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Improved UV photodetection by aligned Cu doped ZnO nanorods: the effect of Cu dopant concentration

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Optics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors are necessary in various areas such as civil fields and pollution monitoring. Herein, highly sensitive and fast responding aligned ZnO nanorods (NRs) based UV photodetectors through optimization of Cu dopant are reported. The effect of different concentrations of Cu elements on the microstructure and optical properties of the ZnO rods is studied by using appropriate characterization methods. Improved performance in terms of faster rise and decay times and sensitivity is achieved after Cu doping. The highest UV on/off ratio (1900), responsivity (28.6 mAW− 1), and detectivity (7.9 × 1013 Jones) are obtained for the 1% Cu doped ZnO NRs, which are remarkable compared to most of the state-of-the-art photodetector devices. With further Cu content, both dark and photo currents decrease affecting the parameters of the photodetector, adversely. Faster reset time compared to pure ZnO NRs is attributed to the role of Cu dopant in the trapping and de-trapping of electrons.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Z.S. Hosseini, M. Shasti, S.R. Sani, A. Mortezaali, Photo-detector diode based on thermally oxidized TiO2 nanostructures/p-Si heterojunction. J. Appl. Phys. 119, 014503 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4937546

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. S.I. Abbas, A.M. Alattar, A.A. Al-Azawy, Enhanced ultraviolet photodetector based on Al-doped ZnO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis method. J. Opt. 53, 396–403 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-023-01164-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Z.S. Hosseini, A. Mortezaali, Investigation the effect of electrode geometry on the response of the UV photodetector based on ZnO nanorods. J. Nuclear Sci. Technol. (JONSAT). 45 (2024). https://doi.org/10.24200/nst.2024.1604

  4. Z. Hassan, L.A. Abdullah, Enhancement of photodetector biased of ZnO nanoparticles/poly-TPD organic material by PEDOT PSS layer. J. Opt. 53, 428–434 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-023-01169-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Z.S. Hosseini, H.A. Bafrani, A. Naseri, A.Z. Moshfegh, High-performance UV-Vis-NIR photodetectors based on plasmonic effect in au nanoparticles/ZnO nanofibers. Appl. Surf. Sci. 483, 1110–1117 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.03.284

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. I. Ben Elkamel, N. Hamdaoui, A. Mezni, R. Ajjel, L. Beji, Synthesis and characterization of Cu doped ZnO nanoparticles for stable and fast response UV photodetector at low noise current. J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron. 30, 9444–9454 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-01276-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. R. Ade, S.S. Kumar, S. Valanarasu, S.S. Kumar, S. Sasikumar, V. Ganesh, Y. Bitla, H. Algarni, I.S. Yahia, Enhanced optoelectronic properties of Ti-doped ZnO nanorods for photodetector applications. Ceram. Int. 47, 24031–24038 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2021.05.112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. P. kumar, V. Chauhan, R. Singh, P.C. Pandey, Lithium activated enhancement in UV-photo response of europium doped ZnO thin film. Mater. Chem. Phys. 291, 126661 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2022.126661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. P. Singh, R. Kumar, R.K. Singh, Progress on Transition Metal-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles and Its Application, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 58, 17130–17163 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b01561

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. S.A. Idrus-Saidi, J. Tang, S. Lambie, J. Han, M. Mayyas, M.B. Ghasemian, F.-M. Allioux, S. Cai, P. Koshy, P. Mostaghimi, K.G. Steenbergen, A.S. Barnard, T. Daeneke, N. Gaston, Kalantar-Zadeh, Liquid metal synthesis solvents for metallic crystals. Science. 378, 1118–1124 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm2731

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. M. Mayyas, M. Mousavi, M.B. Ghasemian, R. Abbasi, H. Li, M.J. Christoe, J. Han, Y. Wang, C. Zhang, M.A. Rahim, J. Tang, J. Yang, D. Esrafilzadeh, R. Jalili, F.-M. Allioux, A.P. O’Mullane, Kalantar-Zadeh, pulsing liquid alloys for nanomaterials synthesis. ACS Nano. 14, 14070–14079 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c06724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. N. Xu, Z. Yuan, B. Wang, F. Nie, J. He, X. Wang, Significant improvement in the performance of well-aligned ZnO nanowire arrays ultraviolet photodetector by Ga doping. Microelectron. Eng. 260, 111787 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2022.111787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. L. Yu, Z. Yuan, B. Wang, F. Nie, J. He, X. Wang, Hydrothermal growth of single-crystalline Ga-doped ZnO microrods for ultraviolet detection. Micro Nanostruct. 166, 207214 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micrna.2022.207214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Y.-L. Chu, L.-W. Ji, H.-Y. Lu, S.-J. Young, I.T. Tang, T.-T. Chu, J.-S. Guo, Y.-T. Tsai, Fabrication and characterization of UV photodetectors with Cu-doped ZnO nanorod arrays. J. Electrochem. Soc. 167, 027522 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/ab69f2

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. W. Dai, X. Pan, C. Chen, S. Chen, W. Chen, H. Zhang, Z. Ye, Enhanced UV detection performance using a Cu-doped ZnO nanorod array film. RSC Adv. 4, 31969–31972 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1039/C4RA04249B

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. B. Nie, J.-G. Hu, L.-B. Luo, C. Xie, L.-H. Zeng, P. Lv, F.-Z. Li, J.-S. Jie, M. Feng, C.-Y. Wu, Y.-Q. Yu, S.-H. Yu, Monolayer graphene film on ZnO nanorod array for high-performance Schottky junction ultraviolet photodetectors. Small. 9, 2872–2879 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201203188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. X.H. Nguyen, H.N. Luong, H.A. Pham, N.M. Nguyen, V.Q. Dang, Visible photodetector based on transition metal-doped ZnO NRs/PEDOT:PSS hybrid materials. RSC Adv. 11, 36340–36347 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1039/D1RA06315D

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. F. Al-Hazmi, F. Alnowaiser, A.A. Al-Ghamdi, A.A. Al-Ghamdi, M.M. Aly, R.M. Al-Tuwirqi, F. El-Tantawy, A new large - scale synthesis of magnesium oxide nanowires: structural and antibacterial properties. Superlattices Microstruct. 52, 200–209 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spmi.2012.04.013

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. J. Joo, B.Y. Chow, M. Prakash, E.S. Boyden, J.M. Jacobson, Face-selective electrostatic control of hydrothermal zinc oxide nanowire synthesis. Nat. Mater. 10, 596–601 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3069

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. A. Sarkar, G.G. Khan, The formation and detection techniques of oxygen vacancies in titanium oxide-based nanostructures. Nanoscale. 11, 3414–3444 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1039/C8NR09666J

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. S.A. Abdullah, M.Z. Sahdan, N. Nafarizal, H. Saim, A.S. Bakri, C.H. Cik Rohaida, F. Adriyanto, Y. Sari, Photoluminescence study of trap-state defect on TiO2 thin films at different substrate temperature via RF magnetron sputtering, Journal of Physics: Conference Series 995, 012067 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/995/1/012067

  22. J. Liqiang, Q. Yichun, W. Baiqi, L. Shudan, J. Baojiang, Y. Libin, F. Wei, F. Honggang, S. Jiazhong, Review of photoluminescence performance of nano-sized semiconductor materials and its relationships with photocatalytic activity. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells. 90, 1773–1787 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2005.11.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. M. Babikier, D. Wang, J. Wang, Q. Li, J. Sun, Y. Yan, Q. Yu, S. Jiao, Cu-doped ZnO nanorod arrays: the effects of copper precursor and concentration. Nanoscale Res. Lett. 9, 199 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1556-276X-9-199

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. K. Vanheusden, W.L. Warren, C.H. Seager, D.R. Tallant, J.A. Voigt, B.E. Gnade, Mechanisms behind green photoluminescence in ZnO phosphor powders. J. Appl. Phys. 79, 7983–7990 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.362349

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. A. Rahmati, A. Balouch Sirgani, M. Molae, M. Karimipour, Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by simple co-precipitation route. Eur. Phys. J. Plus. 129, 250 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2014-14250-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. R. Ghosh, D. Basak, Electrical and ultraviolet photoresponse properties of quasialigned ZnO nanowires/p-Si heterojunction. Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 243106 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2748333

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. P.-N. Ni, C.-X. Shan, S.-P. Wang, X.-Y. Liu, D.-Z. Shen, Self-powered spectrum-selective photodetectors fabricated from n-ZnO/p-NiO core–shell nanowire arrays. J. Mater. Chem. C 1, 4445–4449 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1039/C3TC30525B

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. S. Hullavarad, N. Hullavarad, D. Look, B. Claflin, Persistent photoconductivity studies in nanostructured ZnO UV sensors. Nanoscale Res. Lett. 4, 1421 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11671-009-9414-7

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Alzahra University is acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Photonics and Quantum Technologies Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute (NSTRI), Tehran, Iran

    Zahra Sadat Hosseini

  2. Institute of Advanced Materials and Renewable Energies, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), Tehran, Iran

    Marjan Rajabi

  3. Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Faculty of Physics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

    Zahra Khodabandelu & Abdollah Mortezaali

Authors
  1. Zahra Sadat Hosseini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marjan Rajabi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zahra Khodabandelu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Abdollah Mortezaali
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Zahra Sadat Hosseini: Validation, Formal analysis, Writing-Review, and Editing, Marjan Rajabi: Project administration, Review, and Editing, Zahra Khodabandelu: Doing experiments and Investigation, Abdollah Morteza Ali: Conceptualization and Supervision.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zahra Sadat Hosseini or Abdollah Mortezaali.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts to disclose.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary Material 1

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hosseini, Z.S., Rajabi, M., Khodabandelu, Z. et al. Improved UV photodetection by aligned Cu doped ZnO nanorods: the effect of Cu dopant concentration. J Opt (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-024-01852-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-024-01852-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation