A high-performance UV photodetector with superior responsivity enabled by a synergistic photo/thermal enhancement of localized surface plasmon resonance

In this paper, we propose a new strategy to enhance the photoelectric performance of ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors by exploiting a synergistic photo-thermal effect which is induced by a localized surface plasmon resonance. We demonstrate that a W18O49 plasmonic semiconductor is able to improve the performance of target photodetectors as a result of a localized surface plasmon resonance, which increases light absorption, enhances the photothermal effect to deliver an increased photocurrent, and provides photo-induced hot electrons to limit carrier depletion over prolonged light illumination. Consequently, a UV photodetector based on W18O49/TiO2 nanofibers is shown to exhibit an excellent photodetection performance with a high responsivity of up to 1.6 x 10(4) A W-1, which is five times greater than that of the pure TiO2 analogue and greatly exceeds those of the TiO2-based photodetectors reported to date.

Automated summary

In this paper, a new strategy is proposed to enhance the photoelectric performance of ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors by utilizing a synergistic photo-thermal effect induced by a localized surface plasmon resonance. It is demonstrated that a W18O49 plasmonic semiconductor can improve the performance of photodetectors by increasing light absorption, enhancing the photothermal effect, and providing photo-induced hot electrons to limit carrier depletion. As a result, a UV photodetector based on W18O49/TiO2 nanofibers exhibits excellent photodetection performance with a high responsivity of up to 1.6 x 10(4) A W-1, which is five times greater than that of the pure TiO2 analogue and surpasses the previously reported TiO2-based photodetectors.