Highly Wavelength-Selective Enhancement of Responsivity in Ag Nanoparticle-Modified ZnO UV Photodetector

We proposed and demonstrated Ag nanoparticles (NPs)-decorated ZnO photodetectors for UV light sensing. After decoration of their surface with random Ag NPs, the dark current density of ZnO UV photodetectors decreases obviously. Moreover, the device exhibits an obvious increase in peak responsivity at around 380 nm, which can be attributed to the narrow-band quadrupole plasmon resonance of Ag NPs in the UV range. Meanwhile, the responsivity at the other wavelengths decreases a lot. As a result, the response peak becomes more significant, and the response of the devices presents an excellent wavelength selectivity after covering with Ag NPs. The detailed mechanism for this phenomenon was explained. We believe that our findings would open a way to harness the high-order plasmon modes in the field of UV optoelectronic devices.