High-performance photo detector based on hydrothermally grown SnO2 nanowire/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrid material

Abstract

Solely inorganic semiconductors or their nanostructure based ultra violet photo detectors are still not up to the mark and remain unsatisfactory due to their inferior electrical performances. Therefore, the hybridization of inorganic semiconducting materials with organic semiconducting materials is emerging as one of the strategic methodology that has been recently implemented to augment the electrical performance like photocurrent, conductivity etc. Herein, we present a facile and efficient method for the hybridization of SnO2 nano wire with reduced grapheme oxide (rGO) nano sheet and subsequent investigation of enhancement in photocurrent of the hybrid material. Prior to the hybridization of SnO2 nanowire with rGO, SnO2 nanowire is synthesized via hydrothermal route, and contemporarily, rGO is synthesized via improved Hummers method followed by reduction using microwave. Further, as obtained hybrid material of SnO2/rGO is deposited over the Si/SiO2, glass and p-doped Si substrates via spray method by placing the mixture solution of SnO2/rGO hybrid, inside the medicine chamber of baby's spray nebulizer. The morphological properties have been discussed taking into account of atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The formation of nano-hybrid materials and structural properties of SnO2, rGO, and SnO2/rGO hybrid have been discussed based on X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR and UV–Vis spectroscopy. Further, the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of as grown thin film of hybrid is conducted using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and AFM conducting tip. The metal-semiconductor- metal (MSM) structure is characterized in dark and in presence of light and found wavelength dependent photo detector property with drastic enhancement in photocurrent (102) at ±3 V for shorter wavelength as compare to longer wavelength. Thus, our material is selective for light source and can be used further for selective as well as short wavelength photo detector.