Response Characteristics of Pyroelectric-Based ZnO/NiO Heterojunction Transparent Photodetectors

Transparent ZnO/NiO heterojunction photodetectors based on the pyroelectric effect are demonstrated as promising devices that combine optical and thermal responses. Transparent photovoltaic (TPV) devices have attracted considerable attention as a next-generation energy technology that can be applied to windows of buildings and vehicles to generate electricity without requiring additional installation space. In this study, a transparent heterojunction structure (FTO/ZnO/NiO/AgNWs/ZnO) was fabricated to investigate the influence of the pyroelectric effect on photodetection performance, with the photovoltaic characteristics enabling self-operation. The device exhibited an average visible transmittance (AVT) of approximately 60.3%, and it showed clear photovoltaic operation with a relatively high photo-generated voltage (226 mV) and current density (92 µA/cm²). This transparent photovoltaic device is possible to be applied for photodetector. This transparent photodetector provides the significantly high responsivity (19.511 A/W) and detectivity (1.830× 1013 Jones) due to the pyroelectric effect, and it maintains high values even at low frequencies, thereby operating effectively over a wide frequency range. These results indicate that the transparent heterojunction (p-NiO/n-ZnO) device is a photovoltaic cell to provide the operation power on photodetection, and thus next-generation photoelectric devices and applications.