Full near-ultraviolet response photoelectrochemical ultraviolet detector based on TiO2nanocrystalline coated stainless steel mesh photoanode.

In order to solve the 'ultraviolet (UV) filtering problem' caused by traditional sandwich-type structure in photoelectrochemical (PEC) UV detector, we design a special electrode based on stainless steel mesh, which integrates the light absorption layer and the electron collection electrode in a simple way. In combination with an UV-transparent quartz substrate, UV light can directly reach the active material. The improved detector shows good visible-blind, self-powered, and linear response characteristics. The serious recombination caused by metal electrode is suppressed by depositing a barrier layer. The optimized device exhibits a high photoresponse of 0.103 A W-1at 296 nm, a short recovery time of 250 ms, and very sensitive switching ability. Furthermore, the response range of the detector is expanded from 300 to 400 nm to the full near-UV region. Our work provides an efficient strategy to solve the key problem of the PEC UV detector.