Preparation of ZnMoO4 for ultraviolet detection by laser ablation in liquid combined with hydrothermal method

Ternary metal oxide（TONs）has attracted extensive attention in the field of ultraviolet detection due to its adjustable band gap and excellent photoelectric properties. Here, ternary metal oxide ZnMoO4 is prepared by laser ablation in liquid combined with hydrothermal method. During the laser ablation, highly active solutions containing Mo6+, Zn2+, MoO3, ZnO, MoO42- and Zn(OH)2 are obtained, which was put into the reactor for hydrothermal reaction. Both hydrothermal time and hydrothermal temperature has effects on the morphology and size of the products. ZnMoO4 nanowires can be prepared with hydrothermal condition of 200 °C and 15 h. The products have high absorption in ultraviolet and low absorption in the visible region, namely good selectivity to the spectral region. A UV photodetector based on ZnMoO4 material with 4.70 eV band gap is constructed and its photoelectric performances are studied. It is found that the dark current of ZnMoO4 UV detector is very small, about 0.01 nA. The current increases rapidly as the voltage increases. And with the increase of light intensity, the current increases due to the increase of photo-generated carriers. The current in the I-T curve presents a good periodic rise and fall. The results indicate that ZnMoO4 is a suitable material to be used in ultraviolet detectors.