A newly-designed photoelectrochemical self-powered detector is applied to an α-Ga ₂ O ₃ nanorod array to realize the detection of solar-blind ultraviolet light (wavelengths below 300 nm) and fast response (rise time of 0.076 s and decay time of 0.056 s).

Gallium oxide thin films were deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique. Structural, optical and photoelectrical properties of Ga₂O₃ thin films were investigated in detail. The as-grown Ga₂O₃ thin films were amorphous, while those annealed film were polycrystalline with monoclinic structure. Amorphous and polycrystalline gallium oxide metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors were fabricated. However, annealed polycrystalline films have no photoresponse for deep ultraviolet light. The responsivity of the photodetector based on as-grown amorphous film is 122.7 μA/W at 256 nm and the ultraviolet (UV)-to-visible rejection ratios were 100, which indicates that the amorphous Ga₂O₃ thin films have potential application for solar-blind photodetector. High concentration of oxygen vacancies of amorphous film are considered to be responsible for photoresponse in amorphous gallium oxide thin films.

Cu-doped ZnO nanorods have been grown at 90°C for 90 min onto a quartz substrate pre-coated with a ZnO seed layer using a hydrothermal method. The influence of copper (Cu) precursor and concentration on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of ZnO nanorods was investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the nanorods grown are highly crystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure grown along the c-axis. The lattice strain is found to be compressive for all samples, where a minimum compressive strain of −0.114% was obtained when 1 at.% Cu was added from Cu(NO₃)₂. Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate morphologies and the diameters of the grown nanorods. The morphological properties of the Cu-doped ZnO nanorods were influenced significantly by the presence of Cu impurities. Near-band edge (NBE) and a broad blue-green emission bands at around 378 and 545 nm, respectively, were observed in the photoluminescence spectra for all samples. The transmittance characteristics showed a slight increase in the visible range, where the total transmittance increased from approximately 80% for the nanorods doped with Cu(CH₃COO)₂ to approximately 90% for the nanorods that were doped with Cu(NO₃)₂.