Large-area fabrication of homogeneous octahedral Bi2O3 nanoblocks on ITO substrate for UV detection

Abstract Large-area octahedral Bi2O3 nanoblocks (NBs) have been successfully fabricated on ITO substrate through a facile hydrothermal synthesis. The Bi2O3 NBs with an average diameter of ∼2 μm were homogeneously grown over the entire surface of the substrate. Furthermore, the ultraviolet photodetector (UVPD) was assembled based on the Bi2O3 NBs. On exposure to UV light, the photocurrent density of Bi2O3 NBs UVPD surged to 38.5 μA/cm2, associated with rapid rise and decay time of ∼27.7 ms and ∼27.2 ms respectively. Especially, the as-fabricated detector could achieve stable UV detection free of the power supply and exhibit good stability and reusability. Moreover, the growth mechanism of the Bi2O3 NBs and detection mechanism of the Bi2O3 NBs UVPD have been investigated.