Indirect In Situ Oxidization of Metallic Nanoparticles for a High‐Performance Broadband Transparent Detector by Plasmonic and Pyro‐Phototronic Coupling

Abstract

Near‐infrared (NIR) photodetectors are valuable technological devices with numerous uses, and transforming opaque NIR photodetectors into transparent ones will aid in the development of invisible interfaces for the rapidly emerging technology of human–computer interactions. However, transparent NIR photodetectors typically suffer from considerable optical loss, which reduces the device sensitivity. The current study enhances the trade‐off between the transparency and sensitivity of NIR photodetectors by investigating the pyro‐phototronic effect, which is accomplished using an ITO/Ag‐Ag(O)/ZnO/NiO/AgNWs design. The design has a see‐through feature with a visible light transmittance of 62.1%. An ultrathin Ag‐Ag(O) layer absorbs NIR light, generating 476% more photocurrent because of the ZnO layer's pyroelectric effect. The pyro‐phototronic effect allows ITO/Ag‐Ag(O)/ZnO/NiO/AgNWs to be responsive to diverse NIR intensities with a response time of 0.18 ms. The metallic–semiconductor mixed‐phase properties of the Ag‐Ag(O) combination are produced by indirectly oxidizing embedded Ag nanostructures by adding oxygen during the ZnO layer development. The approach exploits the plasmonic effect of Ag nanoparticles, which improves the photothermal utilization of the ZnO layer, resulting in a stronger pyro‐phototronic response at shorter wavelengths. Transparent sensors with high sensitivity and broadband operation would advance image processing and human augmentation.