Developing low-cost nanohybrids of ZnO nanorods and multi-shaped silver nanoparticles for broadband photodetectors

Photodetectors are essential elements for various applications like fiber optic communication systems, biomedical imaging, and so on. Thus, improving the performance and reducing the material costs of photodetectors would act as a motivation toward the future advancement of those applications. This study introduces the development of a nanohybrid of zinc oxide nanorods (ZnONRs) and multi-shaped silver nanoparticles MAgNPs through a simple solution process; in which ZnONRs are hybridized with MAgNPs to enable visible absorption through the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect. The photodetector based on ZnONRs/MAgNPs is responsive to visible light with representative wavelengths of 395, 464, 532 and 640 nm, and it exhibits high responsivity (R), photoconductive gain (G) and detectivity (D). The maximum R is calculated from the fitting curve of the responsivity-power relation with the value of 5.35 × 10³ (mA W^-1) at 395 nm excitation. The highest G and D reach 8.984 and 3.71 × 10¹⁰ Jones at that wavelength. This reveals the promise of our innovative broadband photodetector for practical usage.