High-performing flexible and transparent photodetector by using silver nanowire-networks

Transparent and flexible photodetector was realized by effective interfacial design methods. Silver nanowires (AgNWs) were networked onto a colorless polyimide (cPI) substrate to ensure the transparent conductive front electrode of Ni/ZnO/AgNWs/cPI photodetector. Under UV illumination, remarkable performances were obtained for quick responses (rise time = 0.987 ms and fall time = 2.49 ms) and ultrahigh responsivity (1.46 × 10⁴ A/W). Due to the merit of AgNW-networks, an enhanced interfacial surface was established for the ZnO film, simultaneously providing efficiently short pathways for the collection of photo-generated carriers. The AgNWs-embedding Schottky photodetector gave an excellent noise equivalent power of 4.38 × 10⁻¹⁵ W/Hz^1/2, which is suitable for femtowatt-level photodetection. We demonstrate that the active adoption of metallic nanowires would provide high-degree of freedom for high-performing photoelectric devices with satisfying flexible and transparent features.