Pressure and UV light sensitive electron field emission properties of lateral ZnO nanowires with an emitter-to-emitter configuration

This study demonstrates the synthesis of lateral zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) with an emitter-to-emitter configuration on a simple Pt/AZO bi-layer structure by hydrothermal synthesis (HTS) method and presents their superior electron field emission (FE) characteristics and pressure/UV light (254, 366 nm) sensing properties. The highly sensitive response to both pressure and UV illumination is attributed to the use of an emitter-to-emitter configuration with short interelectrode spacing as well as the good crystal quality of the lateral ZnO NWs. Experimental results presented in this work indicate that the lateral ZnO NWs can be a potential candidate for devices applications of gas, pressure, and UV light sensors.