Comprehensively Improved Performance of ZnO Nanomaterial Based Solar-Blind UV Photodetector Embedded in PVA Matrix.

Herein we report a simple and cost-effective way for synthesis and application of ZnO-PVA nanocomposite using the spin coating technique in which an aqueous solution containing sources of above was deposited on a glass substrate using spin coating technique and further annealed at 120°C. The structural, optical and morphological properties investigated reveals polycrystalline nature of uniformly coated ZnO-PVA composite thin film with a band gap of 3.26 eV. Photo-detector device is made by patterning silver electrodes at two ends of thin film by keeping an electrode gap of ~ 1 mm. Current-voltage measurements are performed under dark and UV illumination. A linear rise in photocurrent under UV illumination (100 μW/cm 2 ) indicate reliable photodetection properties of the device with ~ 6 μA photocurrent, 120 A/W responsivity, 5.8 x 10 4 external quantum efficiency, 6 x 10 4 sensitivity and 0.6ms rise time, which is highly applicable for fabricating UV photodetectors going to be used for advance application in defence and space.