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Hydrothermal synthesis of nanomoss Nb2O5 films and their ultraviolet photodetection performance

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Abstract

Hydrothermal process is one of the most suitable and highly controlled synthesis methods for engineering or tailoring the nanostructures of metal oxide. In the present work, etching agent assisted hydrothermal process was employed to synthesis nanostructured Nb2O5. Nanomoss Nb2O5 films were successfully synthesized on niobium foil in the ammonia fluoride based solution with concentration of 0.5 and 1.65 M at 95 °C for 24 h. Material analysis of the nanomoss Nb2O5 was carried out by field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis and Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. The XRD characterization revealed that the nanomoss Nb2O5 only become crystalline after annealing for 60 min at 440 °C. That annealing condition also contributes to the growth of hump structure on the nanomoss films. Furthermore, it was observed that the films produce low reflectance properties in the range of 2.73–26.0% at UV wavelengths, which make them a potential candidate in UV sensor applications. To fabricate the UV sensor, platinum (Pt) electrode was deposited as a contact pad. Based on the UV characterization, the UV sensor based on nanomoss Nb2O5 films exhibited good photosensitivity of 2.0 and response time in the range of 51.4–76.8 s when exposed under turn on/off of UV light (365 nm, 750 µW/cm2) at a bias voltage of 10 V.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (Project Code: 600-IRMI/FRGS 5/3 (081/2017)), Ministry of Education, Malaysia. Thanks also to Institute of Research Management and Innovation (IRMI), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and the Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University (KSU) for their support through Vice Deanship of Scientific Research Chairs. The authors would like to express gratitude to Mohd Azlan Jaafar, Nurul Wahida Aziz and Salifairus Mohammad Jafar from NANO-SciTech Centre, Institute of Science, UiTM for their assistance whom plays significant roles in our work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NANO-SciTech Centre, Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

    Rozina Abdul Rani & Mohamad Rusop Mahmood

  2. NANO-ElecTronic Centre, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

    Rozina Abdul Rani, Ahmad Sabirin Zoolfakar, Nur Samihah Khairir, Mohamad Hafiz Mamat & Mohamad Rusop Mahmood

  3. Research Chair for Biomedical Applications of Nanomaterials, Biochemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Salman Alrokayan & Haseeb A. Khan

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  1. Rozina Abdul Rani
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Abdul Rani, R., Zoolfakar, A.S., Khairir, N.S. et al. Hydrothermal synthesis of nanomoss Nb2O5 films and their ultraviolet photodetection performance. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 29, 16765–16774 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-9770-0

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