Mixed-dimensional Te/CdS van der Waals heterojunction for self-powered broadband photodetector

The 2D layered crystals can physically integrate with other non-2D components through van der Waals (vdW) interaction, forming mixed-dimensional heterostructures. As a new elemental 2D material, tellurium (Te) has attracted intense recent interest for high room-temperature mobility, excellent air-stability, and the easiness of scalable synthesis. To date, the Te is still in its research infancy, and optoelectronics with low-power consumption are less reported. Motivated by this, we report the fabrication of a mixed-dimensional vdW photodiode using 2D Te and 1D CdS nanobelt in this study. The heterojunction exhibits excellent self-powered photosensing performance and a broad response spectrum up to short-wave infrared. Under 520 nm wavelength, a high responsivity of 98 mA W-1 is obtained at zero bias with an external quantum efficiency of 23%. Accordingly, the photo-to-dark current ratio and specific detectivity reach 9.2 x 10(3) and 1.9 x 10(11) Jones due to the suppressed dark current. This study demonstrates the promising applications of Te/CdS vdW heterostructure in high-performance photodetectors. Besides, such a mixed-dimensional integration strategy paves a new way for device design, thus expanding the research scope for 2D Te-based optoelectronics.

Automated summary

The study reports the fabrication of a mixed-dimensional vdW photodiode using 2D Te and 1D CdS nanobelt, which exhibits excellent self-powered photosensing performance with a broad response spectrum and high responsivity in the short-wave infrared region. The promising applications of Te/CdS vdW heterostructure in high-performance photodetectors are demonstrated, and the mixed-dimensional integration strategy opens up new possibilities for device design in the field of 2D Te-based optoelectronics.