Exceptional ultraviolet photovoltaic response of 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline based detector

• Published in: Journal of applied physics Vol. 118; no. 12
• Main Authors: Cai, Yuhua, Tang, Libin, Xiang, Jinzhong, Ji, Rongbin, Zhao, Jun, Yuan, Jun, Duan, Yu, Hu, Yanbo, Tai, Yunjian, Zhao, Jianhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville American Institute of Physics 28.09.2015
• Subjects: Applied physics; Emission analysis; Focal plane devices; Low cost; Optical properties; Optoelectronic devices; P-type semiconductors; Photoluminescence; Photometers; Sensors; Ultraviolet radiation; Volt-ampere characteristics
• ISSN: 0021-8979; 1089-7550
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4931430

UV photodetector is a kind of important optoelectronic devices that has vital applications in both scientific and engineering fields. The development of UV photodetectors has been impeded because of lacking stable p-type wide-gap semiconductor which is crucial for high-performance, low-cost, large-array UV photovoltaic detector. In this paper, we report a novel UV photovoltaic detector fabricated using 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BCP) as a sole photoactive material. The highest detectivity (D*) reaches 9.02 × 1011 cm Hz1/2 W−1 at −1 V bias voltage at room temperature under 365 nm illumination for the un-optimized BCP based detector (without using pre-amplifier), which is the highest value for the sole UV organic photoactive material based photovoltaic detector. The optical, electrical, and photovoltaic properties, including the UV absorption, photoluminescence (PL) emission, PL excitation, I-V, C-V, and photoresponse, have been systematically investigated to disclose the internal mechanism. The present study paves the way for developing high-performance, low-cost UV focal plane array detectors.