Achieving High Responsivity of Photoelectrochemical Solar-Blind Ultraviolet Photodetectors via Oxygen Vacancy Engineering

Tin oxide (SnO2) is an n-type wide-bandgap semiconductor with the merits of superior electron transport properties and good stability, making it an attractive candidate for solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors (SBUV PDs). However, it is still challenging to design high-performance SnO2-based photoelectrochemical (PEC)-type SBUV PDs. In this study, oxygen vacancies (OVs) engineering is proposed to manipulate the photoresponse of SnO2 nanosheets (NSs) and high-performance SnO2-based PEC SBUV PDs are developed. SnO2 NSs with different OVs are prepared by hydrothermal method with annealing process. PEC PDs consisting of SnO2 NSs annealed at 550 degrees C show record high responsivity and specific detectivity of 269.40 mA W-1 and 2.38 x 10(12) Jones at a bias voltage of 0.2 V, respectively, surpassing all aqueous-type PEC UV PDs. OVs simultaneously accelerate the carrier recombination in the SnO2 NSs and charge transfer at the interface of the SnO2 NSs and electrolyte, indicating that both excess OVs and too few OVs reduce the PEC photoresponse. Therefore, an appropriate OV's content is vital to designing high-performance SnO2 NSs PEC PDs. Moreover, the SnO2 NSs PEC PDs have good self-powered capability, excellent wavelength-selectivity, multicycle and long-term stability. The results of this study demonstrate that OVs engineering is a powerful strategy for designing high-performance SnO2-based PEC PDs.

Automated summary

In this study, oxygen vacancies engineering is proposed to manipulate the photoresponse of tin oxide nanosheets, leading to the development of high-performance solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors. The appropriate content of oxygen vacancies is vital for designing SnO2 nanosheets photoelectrochemical detectors.