Synthesis and characterization of nanocrystalline CdS thin films for highly photosensitive self-powered photodetector

A self-powered highly photosensitive photodetector based on a nanocrystalline CdS thin film was fabricated using a microwave-assisted chemical bath deposition. In this study, highly uniform nanocrystalline CdS thin films were grown on Si(1 0 0) substrates from aqueous solutions of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) and thiourea [ SC(NH2)(2)], which served as cadmium Cd (2+) and sulfur S2- ions sources, respectively. Structural, morphological and optical analysis revealed that good-quality nanocrystalline CdS thin films were synthesized. Current-voltage (I-V) measurements of the fabricated photodetector showed a significant sensitivity to visible light at zero applied voltage, indicating that the fabricated device is a self-powered photodetector. The device was highly photosensitive to low-power visible light; it showed a sensitivity of 97.2 x 10(3) to (1.20 mW/cm(2)) 500-nm light, without an external bias. Photoresponse measurements demonstrated the highly reproducible characteristics of the fabricated photodetector with rapid response and baseline recovery time. This work introduces a simple and low-cost method for fabricating a rapid-response, highly photosensitive photodetector with zero power consumption. The mechanism of self-powered photodetectors is discussed.