Flexible, foldable material for self-powered photodetection
Chinese scientists fabricated the material, which acts as both a battery anode and a light sensor, using a sacrificial carbon cloth as a template. The team used this to grow tin oxide nanoparticles which form hollow tubes identical in structure to the woven carbon when the carbon cloth is removed at high temperatures. Tin oxide is a wide band gap semi-conductor with high quantum efficiency in the UV region, making the material a good substrate for both battery electrodes and light detection.
The scientists showed that two of the tin oxide layers can be integrated into one highly flexible, self-powered photodetector that shows comparable performance when compared to non-foldable devices with external power supplies. No change in light detection or power generation occurs when the cloth is folded.
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