Highly sensitive self-powered UV-visible photodetector based on ZrO2-RGO nanofibers/n-Si heterojunction

Nanoscale microstructures such as nanofibers (NFs) have the potential to be widely used in optoelectronics as they minimize the interfacial effects. A low-cost and easily prepared the ZrO2-RGO NFs/n-Si heterojunction photodetector was fabricated and its photodetector performance were reported in the present work. The morphological, structural, and optical analyses of the ZrO2-RGO NFs were achieved by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), respectively. The device yields a rectification ratio of 37384. It was observed that the ZrO2-RGO NFs/n-Si photodetector fabricated under the same conditions gave a high response to light in both the visible and UV spectral regions in addition to the self-powered mode. Compared to the reverse current measured in the dark, the ZrO2-RGO NFs/n-Si heterojunction gives quite high reverse current even in ambient light as high as an order of three, making it a candidate photodetector for low light intensities. The ON/OFF ratio reached up to 6.1 x 103 and 5.5 x 103 for 150 mW/cm2 for visible light and UV (365 nm), respectively (at -2.0 V).(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.