Photodetectors are the heart of any optoelectronic circuit, and are employed for a wide variety of applications. However, the existing commercial photodetectors use expensive and intricate fabrication processes and are limited to small areas, since at larger areas, the response slows down because of increased device capacitance. The present invention ia based on a solution-based technique, that enables large-area fabrication without compromising the detector response. The resident metal nanostructures enhance the performance of the fabricated detector through trapping the incoming photon flux. This large area device exhibits excellent detectivity of 1015 Jones and can detect very low light intensities (~pW) with response time of 40 µs covering a broad spectral range from 300-1200 nm. Notably, this energy-efficient detector operates in self-powered mode with a high on/off ratio (104). The device also has commendable uniformity (>95%), and with a commonly available protective coating, excellent stability for harsh conditions is achieved. The photodetector utility is demonstrated as a prototype imaging system, power and lux meter and also as a tool for security applications.
