Synthesis and Characterization of Au/ Sb2O3 Ultrathin nanosheet/Au as a High-Performance UV-Photodetector

Abstract

Ultrathin antimony trioxide (Sb2O3) was synthesized on ITO substrate by a solvothermal method using ethanol as a solvent. The structure, morphological variations, and optical properties of the as-prepared sample were characterized. The results indicated that the homogeneously grown sheet of cubic phase of ultrathin Sb2O3 has an elliptical cross-section with a thickness of 20 nm and diameter of 400-500 nm. Further, an ultraviolet (UV) performance photodetector based on the (Au/Sb2O3/Au) was fabricated and examined. The measured Current-Voltage (IV) curves in the dark and under illumination (UV-395 nm) of different intensities indicate the presence of the Schottky barrier at the interfaces between Sb 2O3 and Au-electrodes. Photocurrent values of 2.32, 16.5, and 25.58 μA were obtained for intensities of 4, 8 and 12 mW/cm2 , respectively at bias voltage of +3V, as compared to a dark current of 0.78μA. Sensitivity and responsivity values of 40.04 and 6.294W/A were recorded. The current-time (I-T) graph was utilized to derive the response and recovery times of the sensor under chopped UV-laser at different power intensities. The sensor exhibited fast response and recovery times of 113.6 ms and 67.2 ms, respectively, making this a high-performance sensor. This study demonstrates that ultrathin Sb2O3 nanosheet can be very useful to develop simple and high-performance UV sensors in different commercial fields and industries in the future.

Keywords

• sb2o3;
• ultrathin nanosheets;
• au/sb2o3/au;
• msm uv-photodetector