Facile and Eco-Friendly Fabrication Route of In₂O₃NP/MWCNTs Heterostructure as High-Performance Photodetectors by Laser Ablation Method

Colloidal In₂O₃NPs-MWCNTs heterostructure (NPs) were successfully synthesized by a facile one-step Q-switched Nd: YAG laser ablation of indium target in CNTs suspension at room temperature. Raman spectroscopy and optical absorption analysis of the prepared samples confirmed the formation of In₂O₃NPs-MWCNTs heterostructure. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) investigation of In₂O₃-CNTs structure and pure In₂O₃ nanoparticles revealed the formation of spherical nanoparticles with average size of 66 nm and 19 nm, respectively. The heterojunction photodetectors were fabricated by drop casting of colloidal In₂O₃NPs-MWCNTs NPs onto a single crystal silicon wafer. I–V characteristics of the In₂O₃NPs/Si and In₂O₃NPs-MWCNTs/Si heterojunctions under both dark and light conditions revealed rectifying properties and good photo-response. The built-in voltage was determined from the C–V measurements which revealed an abrupt junction and their values of 1.05 V and 0.59 V for In₂O₃NPs-MWCNTs/Si and In₂O₃NPs/Si, respectively. In₂O₃NPs-MWCNTs/Si photodetector demonstrated the highest responsivity and quantum efficiency of 1.3 A/W and 3.5 × 10²% at 450 nm, respectively. This In₂O₃-MWCNTs heterostructure-based photodetector with improved performance may open the door to effective Vis–NIR photodetection applications.