Rectifying and photovoltaic properties of ZnCo2O4/Si heterostructure grown by pulsed laser deposition

ZnCo 2 O 4 /Si heterostructures have been fabricated by a pulsed laser deposition method, and their transport behaviors and photovoltaic properties have been characterized. The ZnCo 2 O 4 /Si heterostructures show a good rectifying behavior at five different temperatures ranging from 50 K to 290 K. The measurements of the photovoltaic response reveals that a photovoltage of 33 mV is generated when the heterostructures are illuminated by a 532 nm laser of 250 mW/cm 2 and mechanically chopped at 2500 Hz. Both the photocurrent and the photovoltage clearly increase with the increase of the laser intensity at room temperature. However, the heterostructures' photovoltage peak decreases with the increase of the temperature. This work may open new perspectives for ZnCo 2 O 4 /Si heterostructure-based devices.