Developing high-sensitivity UV sensors based on ZnO nanorods grown on TiO2 seed layer films using solution immersion method

•At the surface, the effective surface energy is lower, thus reduces the energy barriers and facilitating nucleation.•TiO2:ZnO nanorods thin film showed the highest intensity of absorbance values at UV and visible region compared to others.•The photoresponse of the TiO2:ZnO nanorods device was improved compared with the bare TiO2 and bare ZnO.