Modulated charge transport characteristics in solution-processed UV photodetector by incorporating localized built-in electric field

The application of ZnO in the field of ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors is hindered by the lower responsivity, which is attributed to the strong band-to-band direct recombination caused by its large exciton binding energy and defect-assisted charge recombination related with the presence of defect states. Here, a solution-processed ZnO:Poly[N-9′-heptadecanyl-2,7- carbazole-alt-5,5-(4′,7′-di-2-thienyl-2′,1′,3′-benzothiadiazole)] (PCDTBT) composite photosensitive layer is employed to overcome these shortcomings. By incorporating PCDTBT, the localized built-in electric field can be constructed, which effectively facilitates the photogenerated exciton dissociation in annealing-free ZnO layer. Meanwhile, the formed depletion region in dark reduces the majority carrier density, thus decreasing the dark current of the photodetector. Furthermore, the absorption spectrum of PCDTBT perfectly overlaps the photoluminescence of ZnO, which is beneficial for the reutilization of carrier recombination energy by fluorescence resonance energy transfer. This study reveals that the charge recombination loss in ZnO limits the photoresponse, and points a direction to improve the light detection capacity of UV photodetectors. •A UV photodetector is demonstrated with solution-processed ZnO:PCDTBT layer.•The localized built-in electric field is constructed between ZnO and PCDTBT.•The defect-assisted radiation recombination is suppressed by FRET.•The performance in short wavelength region is significantly improved.