ZnO films with carrier concentration as low as 5.0 x 10(13) cm(-3) have been prepared via a lithium and nitrogen codoping method, and ultraviolet photodetectors have been fabricated from the films. The photodetectors can be used to detect weak signals with power density as low as 20 nw/cm(2), and the detectivity and noise equivalent power of the photodetector can reach 3.60 x 10(15) crnHz(1/2)/W and 6.67 x 10(-18) W-1, respectively, both of which are amongst the best values ever reported for ZnO based photodetectors. The high-performance of the photodetector can be attributed to the relatively low carrier concentration of the ZnO:(Li,N) films. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.