A Self-Powered Transparent Photodetector Based on Detached Vertical (In,Ga)N Nanowires with 360° Omnidirectional Detection for Underwater Wireless Optical Communication.

Jianya Zhang,Hua Qin,Wenxian Yang,Min Zhou,Lifeng Bian,Yukun Zhao,Shulong Lu,Min Jiang,Dongmin Wu,Yuanyuan Wu

doi:10.3390/nano11112959

Abstract

Underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) is a wireless communication technology using visible light to transmit data in an underwater environment, which has wide applications. Based on lift-off (In,Ga)N nanowires, this work has proposed and successfully demonstrated a self-powered photoelectrochemical (PEC) photodetector (PD) with excellent transmissivity. The transparent functionality of the PD is critical for 360° omnidirectional underwater detection, which was realized by detaching the (In,Ga)N nanowires from the opaque epitaxial substrates to the indium tin oxide (ITO)/glass. It was also found that the insulating SiO2 layer can enhance the photocurrent by about 12 times. The core–shell structure of the nanowires is beneficial for generating carriers and contributing to the photocurrent. Furthermore, a communication system with ASCII code is set to demonstrate the PD detection in underwater communication. This work paves an effective way to develop 360° omnidirectional PDs for the wide applications in UWOC system and underwater photodetection.

Highlights

On account of potential advantages of low latency and high safety, underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) is considered as an important alternative candidate in addition to acoustic communications and radio frequency (RF) communications [1]
Underwater communication is significant for future applications in oceanography exploration and detection activities, such as marine resource exploration and environmental monitoring [1,2,3]
That means (In,Ga)N with appropriate In composition can be used for underwater communication

Summary

Introduction

On account of potential advantages of low latency and high safety, underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) is considered as an important alternative candidate in addition to acoustic communications and radio frequency (RF) communications [1]. Underwater communication is significant for future applications in oceanography exploration and detection activities, such as marine resource exploration and environmental monitoring [1,2,3]. It is well known that seawater has a low attenuation of light waves in the wavelength range from 450 to 550 nm, i.e., the blue–green light transmission window [2,4,5]. In addition to the extraordinary characteristics of being nontoxic, long lifetime and high stability against radiation and electrochemical (EC) etching [7,8], (In,Ga)N is an ideal material for making photodetectors (PDs) for UWOC applications

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion