Analysis of Electrical Response of Conventional Graphite Rod at UV Radiation

Abstract

UV radiation causes harmful effects on living beings and outdoor materials alike. To detect UV light different strategies were investigated and applied. One of them is the use of photoelectric systems, which take advantage of the possibility of semiconductive materials to produce electrical current under different sources of radiation, including UV. The study's main objective was to assess the possibility of using graphite as a UV light detector. To achieve the objective two materials with different concentrations of graphite were exposed to a UV source and the photovoltaic effect was measured. Under UV light the electrical current with an amplitude of 149 and 187 mV was produced. FFT evidenced that the frequencies of the obtained signals were near 20 and 40 Hz. The results suggest that graphite materials can be used for photoelectrical systems for UV light detection.