Vanadium substitution: a simple and efficient way to improve UV sensing in ZnO

UV sensing in pure ZnO is due to oxygen adsorption/desorption process from ZnO surface. Vanadium doping improves UV sensitivity of ZnO. Enhancement in UV sensitivity in doped ZnO is attributed to trapping and de-trapping of electrons at V4+ & V5+-related defect states. An extra electron in the V4+ state is excited under UV illumination while in absence of the same a trapping happens at the V5+ state. An insight to the mechanism is obtained by an analytic study of the response phenomenon.