The
fabrication of flexible as well as self-powered optoelectronic devices
is a growing and challenging area of research. Some scientists have
reported the fabrication of either flexible or self-powered photodetectors
recently. However, most of the literature studies fail to report the
fabrication of self-powered as well as flexible photodetectors. This
study reports the fabrication of self-powered, carbon dot (CD)-enhanced,
flexible ZnO/graphite heterojunction-based UV detector where cellulose
paper has been used as the substrate. A detailed study on the crystallinity
and the defects of the ZnO nanorods has been done with appropriate
characterizations. The CD-enhanced ZnO/graphite heterojunction showed
Schottky characteristics. The Schottky parameters such as the barrier
height, ideality factor, and the series resistance have also been
calculated using the Cheung–Cheung method. The observed values
of barrier height, ideality factor, and the series resistance are
0.74 eV, 3.74, and 503 kΩ, respectively. The transient response
at self-powered condition has been demonstrated. The response time
and the recovery time at self-powered condition have also been calculated
with the help of the transient response, and those values are ∼2
and ∼3.2 s, respectively. The responsivity and the specific
detectivity of the fabricated UV detector have been calculated as
9.57 mA/W and 4.27×108 Jones, respectively, at 330
nm wavelength, which is quite comparable with literature-reported
values, considering a self-powered photodetector.
In this study, we have reported the synthesis of luminescent carbon dots (CDs) from indigenous potato sources by simple heating reactions. The as‐synthesized CDs exhibited an average size of ~ 5.97 nm with a quantum yield (QY) of 6.08%. Furthermore, the CDs possessed high water‐solubility, possibly due to the presence of ─COOH and ─OH groups on their surfaces. The quenching of luminescence of the CDs specifically by Cr6+ and Fe3+ ions was used to detect chromium and iron in the water sample. The minimum limit of detection (LOD) for Cr6+ and Fe3+ ions was found to be 0.012 μM and 0.000549 μM, respectively, in a linear range of 0.5 μM‐100 μM and 0.5 μM‐5 μM for Cr6+ and Fe3+, respectively, which was well below the concentration specified by WHO. We used our sensing system to detect the metal ions in water from the Brahmaputra River as well as in tannery water. In addition, the MTT‐based cell viability experiments showed that the CDs were nontoxic within 200 μg/mL. High quantum yield and the easy uptake of CDs enabled the quick labelling of cytoplasm of the HeLa cells, which can be further attributed to bioimaging applications.
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