The piezo-phototronic effect is about the use of the piezoelectric potential created inside some materials for enhancing the charge carrier generation or separation at the metal鈥搒emiconductor contact or
pn junction. In this paper, we demonstrate the impact of the piezo-phototronic effect on the photon sensitivity for a ZnO鈥揅dS core鈥搒hell micro/nanowire based visible and UV sensor. CdS nanowire arrays were grown on the surface of a ZnO micro/nanowire to form a ZnO鈥揅dS core鈥搒hell nanostructure by a facile hydrothermal method. With the two ends of a ZnO鈥揅dS wire bonded on a polymer substrate, a flexible photodetector was fabricated, which is sensitive simultaneously to both green light (548 nm) and UV light (372 nm). Furthermore, the performance of the photon sensor is much enhanced by the strain-induced piezopotential in the ZnO core through modulation of the Schottky barrier heights at the source and drain contacts. This work demonstrates a new application of the piezotronic effect in photon detectors.
Keywords:
ZnO鈭扖dS core鈭抯hell micro/nanowire; Schottky contact; piezopotential; photodetector; piezo-phototronic effect