Enhancing UV photoconductivity of ZnO nanobelt by polyacrylonitrile functionalization

UV photodetector fabricated using a single ZnO nanobelt (NB) has shown a photoresponse enhancement up to 750 times higher than that of a bare ZnO NB after coating with ∼20nm plasma polymerized acrylonitrile (PP-AN) nanoscale film. The mechanism for this colossal photoconductivity is suggested as a consequence of the efficient exciton dissociation under UV illumination due to enhanced electron transfer from valence band of ZnO NB to the PP-AN and then back to the conduction band of ZnO. This process has demonstrated an easy and effective method for improving the performance of the nanowire∕NB-based devices, possibly leading to supersensitive UV detector for applications in imaging, photosensing, and intrachip optical interconnects.