A new approach to fabrication of UV photodiodes based on ZnO/PPy on carbon clothe substrate

The current study reports the fabrication of an ultraviolet photodetector composed of zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) and polypyrrole nanoparticles (PPy NPs) on a carbon clothes substrate. The use of high temperature tolerant and suitable conductive flexible carbon fibers results in an excellent mechanical and thermal stability of the detector. Samples were synthesized by an uncomplicated electrochemical technique. The morphology and crystal structure of the samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The optical properties of the samples were evaluated using UV–Vis absorption spectra, that is showed absorption edge at 250 nm. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra showed near band edge emission peaks. The photoresponse to UV light in the prepared device was characterized by the current-potential (I–V) curves. Nanocomposite formation on the entire surfaces of carbon fiber caused more current than other sensors with similar detection areas. The photoresponse of the UV photodetectors was tested with 360 and 250 nm illumination wavelengths. Furthermore, the UV photoelectric properties of the ZnO/PPy photodetector had an enhancement compared with the device based on ZnO NRs. This structure enabled to detect the short wavelength of 250 nm in UVC region which is much lower than optimum detection wavelength of normal ZnO based detectors. The results showed that the UV flexible photodetector based on ZnO/PPy nanocomposite had also shown higher sensitivity in comparison with the photodetectors based on pure ZnO NRs.