Nano-sized ZnO particles on fabric substrates: Achieving ultra-flexible, self-healing UV photodetectors with superior anti-distortion performance

Flexible photodetectors have received a lot of attention due to their potential applications in wearable electronic devices. In order to solve the problem of particle adhesion on fabric substrates, a flexible ultraviolet photodetector based on ZnO nanoparticles was prepared on the fabric substrate by adjusting the particle size of ZnO nanoparticles. A series of ZnO nanoparticles with different particle sizes were synthesized by hydrothermal method, and the effects of particle sizes on the performance of photodetectors were systematically studied. The results show that ZnO quantum dots (QDs) are easily attached to fabric fibers due to their very small particle size, showing a switching ratio of 110 and a response speed of 7.38/4.12 s. The photocurrent recovered by 50 % after 1000 bends compared to the device bending to 2 cm, indicating that the photodetector has excellent anti-distortion and self-healing ability, which is of great significance for the development of fabric-based flexible photodetectors and provides a new idea for the development of flexible electronic devices.