Boosting Charge Utilization in Self-Powered Photodetector for Real-Time High-Throughput Ultraviolet Communication

Ultraviolet (UV) communication is a cutting-edge technology in communication battlefields, and self-powered photodetectors as their optical receivers hold great potential. However, suboptimal charge utilization has largely limited the further performance enhancement of self-powered photodetectors for high-throughput communication application. Herein, a self-powered Ti3C2Tx-hybrid poly(3,4 ethylenedioxythiophene):poly-styrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)/ZnO (TPZ) photodetector is designed, which aims to boost charge utilization for desirable applications. The device takes advantage of photothermal effect to intensify pyro-photoelectric effect as well as the increased conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS, which significantly facilitated charge separation, accelerated charge transport, and suppressed interface charge recombination. Consequently, the self-powered TPZ photodetector exhibits superior comprehensive performance with high responsivity of 12.3 mA W-1 and fast response time of 62.2 mu s, together with outstanding reversible and stable cyclic operation. Furthermore, the TPZ photodetector has been successfully applied in an integrated UV communication system as the self-powered optical receiver capable of real-time high-throughput information transmission with ASCII code under 9600 baud rate. This work provides the design insight of highly performing self-powered photodetectors to achieve high-efficiency optical communication in the future.

Automated summary

Self-powered photodetectors are crucial in UV communication, but suboptimal charge utilization hinders their performance. This study presents a self-powered photodetector designed to improve charge utilization using photothermal effect and enhanced conductivity. The device exhibits high responsivity and fast response time, and has been successfully applied in a UV communication system.