Energy-Efficient Hydrogenated Zinc Oxide Nanoflakes for High-Performance Self-Powered Ultraviolet Photodetector

Light absorption efficiency and doping induced charge carrier density play a vital role in self-powered optoelectronic devices. Unique vanadium-doped zinc oxide nanoflake array (VZnO NFs) is fabricated for self-powered ultraviolet (UV) photodetection. The light harvesting efficiency drastically improved from 84% in ZnO NRs to 98% in VZnO NFs. Moreover, the hydrogenation of as-synthesized VZnO (H:VZnO) NFs displayed an outstanding increase in response current as compared to pristine structures. The H:VZnO NFs device presents an extraordinary photoelastic behavior with faster photodetection speed in the order of ms under a low UV illumination signal. Excellent responsivity and external quantum efficiency with larger value of specific detectivity of H:VZnO NFs device promises an outstanding sensitivity for UV signal and self-powered high-performance visible-blind photodetector.