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Low-cost photodetector architectures fabricated at room-temperature using nano-engineered silicon wafer and sol-gel TiO₂ - based heterostructures.

ABSTRACT: In the last decades, significant research has been done on the nanocrystalline forms of titanium dioxide (TiO₂). Amorphous TiO₂ has not been studied intensively despite being significantly less expensive compared to crystalline TiO₂. This study reveals significant improvement in UV-VIS photodetection properties from heterostructures fabricated in ambient environment using n-type silicon nanowire arrays and amorphous TiO₂ sol-gel. Our ultra-low-cost UV-VIS photodetectors can cover a wide range of applications. We report fast rise/decay time constants of 0.23?ms/0.17?ms and high responsivity up-to 6.0?A/W in the UV and 25.0?A/W in the visible range under low (1?V) external bias. The large surface area due to the nanowire array architecture leads to 2 orders of magnitude enhancement in photo-response. Besides the final electrode deposition, the entire device fabrication is performed using low-cost, all solution-based methods in ambient conditions. These low-cost UV-Visible broadband photodetectors can potentially serve a wide range of applications.

SUBMITTER: Banerjee D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6884441 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Low-cost photodetector architectures fabricated at room-temperature using nano-engineered silicon wafer and sol-gel TiO2 - based heterostructures.

Banerjee Debika D Asuo Ivy M IM Pignolet Alain A Cloutier Sylvain G SG

Scientific reports 20191129 1

In the last decades, significant research has been done on the nanocrystalline forms of titanium dioxide (TiO2). Amorphous TiO2 has not been studied intensively despite being significantly less expensive compared to crystalline TiO2. This study reveals significant improvement in UV-VIS photodetection properties from heterostructures fabricated in ambient environment using n-type silicon nanowire arrays and amorphous TiO2 sol-gel. Our ultra-low-cost UV- ...[more]

PMID: 31784637

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Project description:Titanium dioxide (TiO2) in the form of thin films has attracted enormous attention for photocatalysis. It combines the fundamental properties of TiO2 as a large bandgap semiconductor with the advantage of thin films, making it competitive with TiO2 powders for recycling and maintenance in photocatalytic applications. There are many aspects affecting the photocatalytic performance of thin film structures, such as the nanocrystalline size, surface morphology, and phase composition. However, the quantification of each influencing aspect needs to be better studied and correlated. Here, we prepared a series of TiO2 thin films using a sol-gel process and spin-coated on p-type, (100)-oriented silicon substrates with a native oxide layer. The as-deposited TiO2 thin films were then annealed at different temperatures from 400 °C to 800 °C for 3 h in an ambient atmosphere. This sample synthesis provided systemic parameter variation regarding the aspects mentioned above. To characterize thin films, several techniques were used. Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) was employed for the investigation of the film thickness and the optical properties. The results revealed that an increasing annealing temperature reduced the film thickness with an increase in the refractive index. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was utilized to examine the surface morphology, revealing an increased surface roughness and grain sizes. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and UV-Raman spectroscopy were used to study the phase composition and crystallite size. The annealing process initially led to the formation of pure anatase, followed by a transformation from anatase to rutile as the annealing temperature increased. An overall enhancement in crystallinity was also observed. The photocatalytic properties of the thin films were tested using the photocatalytic decomposition of acetone gas in a home-built solid (photocatalyst)-gas (reactant) reactor. The composition of the gas mixture in the reaction chamber was monitored using in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Finally, all of the structural and spectroscopic characteristics of the TiO2 thin films were quantified and correlated with their photocatalytic properties using a correlation matrix. This provided a good overview of which film properties affect the photocatalytic efficiency the most.

Dataset Information

Low-cost photodetector architectures fabricated at room-temperature using nano-engineered silicon wafer and sol-gel TiO₂ - based heterostructures.

Publications

Low-cost photodetector architectures fabricated at room-temperature using nano-engineered silicon wafer and sol-gel TiO<sub>2</sub> - based heterostructures.

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