Photosensitive characteristics of ZnO and ZnO-TiO₂ nanostructures produced by open-air PLD

Abstract In this work, we used pulsed laser deposition in air at atmospheric pressure as a method to fabricate photosensitive elements. Samples were produced by ps-laser ablation of pure ZnO or mixed ZnO-TiO 2 targets on quartz substrates with pre-deposited gold electrodes. The attention was focused on the electrical properties of pure ZnO and composite ZnO-based samples under exposure to light (UV and Vis) irradiation. The influence of the annealing procedure applied on the sample’s electrical properties was also studied. It was found that annealing the samples changed these properties. Also, a better photoelectric response was obtained from the composite sample compared to the pure ZnO one. A repeated and stable photocurrent response of the composite sample was observed during on/off UV cycles, with response and recovery times of 14 s and 26 s, respectively.