Plasmonic Indium Nanoparticle-Induced High-Performance Photoswitch for Blue Light Detection

Plasmonic nanostructures composed of poor metals (e.g., In, Cu, Al) have lately received increasing interest due to their low cost and natural abundance relative to noble metal nanoparticles (e.g., Au, Ag, Pt). To date, while considerable progress has been achieved with regard to the utilization of plasmonic noble metal nanostructures for optimizing various optoelectronic devices, little work has been performed to study the device appplication of poor metals. In this study, a high-performance blue light nano-photodetector is induced through the use of a highly ordered indium nanoparticle (InNP) array. Electrical analysis reveals that, after decoration with the plasmonic InNP array, the photocurrent of the nano-photodetector increases considerably, giving rise to an obvious increase in responsivity and gain. Such an increase in device performance, according to simulations based on the finite element method, is attributed to the plasmonic InNPs which can induce direct electron transfer from InNPs to ZnSe nanoribbons. This study suggests that poor metal nanoparticles are equally important candidates for boosting the device performance of light-harvesting optoelectronic devices.