Hierarchical synthesis of urchin-like V ₂ O ₅ hollow spheres and its photodetection properties

In this paper, we synthesized hierarchical urchin-like V ₂ O ₅ hollow spheres by simple, low cost and one-pot hydrothermal method without using any kind of templates and surfactants. The X-ray diffraction analysis indicated the urchin-like V ₂ O ₅ hollow spheres exhibited orthorhombic crystal structure. The field emission scanning electron microscope and high-resolution transmission electron microscope demonstrate that the morphology is urchin-like hollow spheres with an average diameter is about (3–4 μm). Time-dependent experiments were performed to investigate the plausible mechanism for the formation of hierarchical urchin-like V ₂ O ₅ hollow spheres through Ostwald ripening. And then, these urchin-like hollow spheres were used to fabricate the photodetector for the high-performance key parameters. The critical parameters such as photosensitivity, responsivity and specific detectivity were calculated 2.79 × 10 ² , 1.109 AW ⁻¹ , 1.525 × 10 ¹¹ Jones, respectively, under 41.3 mWcm ^-2 of 450 nm laser at an applied bias of −5 V. The urchin-like V ₂ O ₅ hollow spheres show excellent photodetection properties upon illumination, because of the cumulative effect of the primary building blocks of nanorods and proper hollow structure that enhance the resultant excellent device performance. Overall, this photodetector offers extraordinary potential and pave the way for an effective approach to fabricate next-generation optoelectronic and electronic devices.