Ultraviolet (UV) photoresponse properties of ZnO nanorods arrays (NRs) deposited with copper thiocyanate (CuSCN) by different successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) cycles were investigated. Compared to the pristine ZnO NRs, the UV photosensitivity increases from 1.65 to 131.53 through lowering the dark current and the photoresponse speed has been obviously improved. As the number of SILAR cycles reaches 120, self- powered UV photoresponse property with fast response speed was observed, which was attributed to the photovoltaic behavior of ZnO/CuSCN. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.