Highly Efficient Visible-Blind Ultraviolet Photodetector Based on Scalably Produced Titanium Dioxide Nanowire Arrays
Mengjuan Li, Zhenlei Wang, Yuanhao Jin, Haitao Yang, Lihui Zhang, Huijuan Li, Jiaping Wang, Shoushan Fan, Qunqing Li
Abstract
Here, we report a novel, feasible, and cost-effective method for the preparation of one-dimensional TiO 2 nanowire arrays using a super-aligned carbon nanotube film as a template. Pure-anatase-phase TiO 2 nanowires were scalably prepared in a suspended manner, and a high-performance ultraviolet (UV) photodetector was realized on a flexible substrate. The large surface area and one-dimensional nanostructure of the TiO 2 nanowire array led to a high detectivity (1.35 × 10 16 Jones) and an ultrahigh photo gain (2.6 × 10 4 ), respectively. A high photoresponsivity of 7.7 × 10 3 A/W was achieved under 7 μW/cm 2 UV (λ = 365 nm) illumination at a 10 V bias voltage, which is much higher than those of commercial UV photodetectors. Additionally, by taking advantage of its anisotropic geometry, we found the TiO 2 nanowire array showed polarized photodetection. The concept of using nanomaterial systems shows the potential for realization of nanostructured photodetectors for practical applications.