Journal of Science: Advanced Materials and Devices (Dec 2022)
Self-powered electrochemical wide-band photodetectors using ZrO2@TiO2 nanorod arrays modified with single-walled carbon nanotubes
Abstract
Self-powered broad-band electrochemical photodetectors (ECPDs) based on broadband photoresponse nanostructured composites are low-cost and promising photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices. In this work a TiO2 nanorod array (TNRA) structure modified by the ZrO2 nanoparticles and metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (m-SWCNTs) was used to prepare the ECPDs for enabling a high performance ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) photoresponse. The ECPDs exhibit a high optical sensitivity with an on/off ratio of 1.59 × 105 and an optical responsivity of 158.67 mA/W under ultraviolet radiation (365 nm) without external bias. The lowest detectable intensity of ultraviolet and visible-light irradiance (465 nm) can reach around 0.1 mW/cm2and 0.18 mW/cm2. The enhanced PEC performance can be attributed to the effective separation and transport of carriers in the PEC system by the type-I band alignment of ZrO2@TiO2 structure and the high conductive network of SWCNTs.