Gigantic enhancement in response and reset time of ZnO UV nanosensor by utilizing Schottky contact and surface functionalization

UV response of ZnO nanowire nanosensor has been studied under ambient condition. By utilizing Schottky contact instead of Ohmic contact in device fabrication, the UV sensitivity of the nanosensor has been improved by four orders of magnitude, and the reset time has been drastically reduced from approximately 417 to approximately 0.8 s. By further surface functionalization with function polymers, the reset time has been reduced to approximately 20 ms even without correcting the electronic response of the measurement system. These results demonstrate an effective approach for building high response and fast reset UV detectors.