A Self-Powered Nanophotodetector System with High UV Photocurrent

We design and fabricate a relatively independent UV nanophotodetector system with p–n heterojunction that is composed of ZnO nanorods and PANI nanorods, which shows a surprised UV photocurrent. When the system is works, no any external power is applied except UV irradiation. In this system, two opposite p–n junctions are combined to form a special structure, one is regarded as a photocell and the other is as a p–n diode. Compared to the early structure of ZnO nanowires/PANI nanofibers, the novel structure with intersecting ZnO and PANI nanorods, in which p–n heterjunction has been added and the ZnO has been modified with 25 layers of PSS shows higher increase of UV photocurrent by nearly 10000 times (from ∼10–8 to ∼10–4 A). It is clear that this increase in order of magnitude provides an opportunity for the subsequent development of nanophotodetector that does not require any additional external power supply except UV light