Atomic Layer Deposition of Zinc Oxide on Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes for UV Photodetector Applications

A novel process for the fabrication of ZnO-carbon nanotubes (CNT) nanocomposites with high uniformity by atomic layer deposition (ALD) of ZnO on multiwalled carbon nanotubes was reported, and their applications in UV photodetectors were investigated. Two types of photodetectors, p- and n-type, were developed by alternating the ALD reaction cycles. In addition, a schematic model was proposed to explain the p- to n-type conversion of the ZnO-CNTs, which accounts for the amount and surface coverage of ZnO on CNTs.