Improving the performance of V₂O₅/rGO hybrid nanocomposites for photodetector applications

Hybrid nanocomposite photodetectors are ideal systems with substantial applications as promising materials in the field of optoelectronics. In this study, the hydrothermal method was used to hybridise 2D rGO onto 1D V₂O₅ nanorods to form hybrid nanocomposites with excellent electrical and photoconduction properties. Five different percentages of rGO content were added to V₂O₅ nanorods to examine the photodetection properties. A comprehensive comparison suggested that the optimal content of rGO intercalated into V₂O₅ nanorods were determined by gaining maximum photoresponse. The high performance of optimised photodetectors is ascribed to various photoconductive paths, effective generation, and transport along with lower recombination of carriers in devices. For the optimised VG40 photodetectors responsivity and specific detectivity were calculated as 12.6 A/W and 5.78 × 10¹¹ Jones respectively, for 532 nm illumination source at a bias voltage of − 2 V. A closer examination found that the optimised VG40 shows photovoltaic behaviour at 0 V. The excellent device performance of the synergistic effect of rGO is due to improve current generation and transport mechanisms. These results demonstrated a suitable approach for the synthesis of a surfactant or binder-free hybrid nanocomposite for practical photodetection applications.