We report on the simple fabrication of monolayer graphene (MLG)/germanium (Ge) heterojunction for infrared (IR) light sensing. It is found that the as-fabricated Schottky junction detector exhibits obvious photovoltaic characteristics, and is sensitive to IR light with high Ilight/Idark ratio of 2 × 10(4) at zero bias voltage. The responsivity and detectivity are as high as 51.8 mA W(-1) and 1.38 × 10(10) cm Hz(1/2) W(-1), respectively. Further photoresponse study reveals that the photovoltaic IR detector displays excellent spectral selectivity with peak sensitivity at 1400 nm, and a fast light response speed of microsecond rise/fall time with good reproducibility and long-term stability. The generality of the above results suggests that the present MLG/Ge IR photodetector would have great potential for future optoelectronic device applications.

A new Schottky junction ultraviolet photodetector (UVPD) is fabricated by coating a free-standing ZnO nanorod (ZnONR) array with a layer of transparent monolayer graphene (MLG) film. The single-crystalline [0001]-oriented ZnONR array has a length of about 8-11 μm, and a diameter of 100∼600 nm. Finite element method (FEM) simulation results show that this novel nanostructure array/MLG heterojunction can trap UV photons effectively within the ZnONRs. By studying the I-V characteristics in the temperature range of 80-300 K, the barrier heights of the MLG film/ZnONR array Schottky barrier are estimated at different temperatures. Interestingly, the heterojunction diode with typical rectifying characteristics exhibits a high sensitivity to UV light illumination and a quick response of millisecond rise time/fall times with excellent reproducibility, whereas it is weakly sensitive to visible light irradiation. It is also observed that this UV photodetector (PD) is capable of monitoring a fast switching light with a frequency as high as 2250 Hz. The generality of the above results suggest that this MLG film/ZnONR array Schottky junction UVPD will have potential application in future optoelectronic devices.

Silicon nanostructure-based solar cells have lately intrigued intensive interest because of their promising potential in next-generation solar energy conversion devices. Herein, we report a silicon nanowire (SiNW) array/carbon quantum dot (CQD) core-shell heterojunction photovoltaic device by directly coating Ag-assisted chemical-etched SiNW arrays with CQDs. The heterojunction with a barrier height of 0.75 eV exhibited excellent rectifying behavior with a rectification ratio of 10(3) at ±0.8 V in the dark and power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 9.10% under AM 1.5G irradiation. It is believed that such a high PCE comes from the improved optical absorption as well as the optimized carrier transfer and collection capability. Furthermore, the heterojunction could function as a high-performance self-driven visible light photodetector operating in a wide switching wavelength with good stability, high sensitivity, and fast response speed. It is expected that the present SiNW array/CQD core-shell heterojunction device could find potential applications in future high-performance optoelectronic devices.

In this article, we report a facile electrochemical method to modify anatase TiO 2 by cathodically biasing TiO 2 in an ethylene glycol electrolyte. The resulting black TiO 2 is highly stable with a significantly narrower bandgap and higher electrical conductivity. Furthermore, largely improved photoconversion efficiency (increased from 48% to 72% in the visible region, and from nearly 0% to 7% in the UV region), photocatalytic efficiency, and charge-storage capability ($42 fold increase) are achieved for the treated TiO 2 .

Schottky junction solar cells were constructed by combining the monolayer graphene (MLG) films and the Si nanowire (SiNW) arrays. Pronounced photovoltaic characteristics were investigated for devices with both p-MLG/n-SiNWs and n-MLG/p-SiNWs structures. Due to the balance between light absorption and surface carrier recombination, devices made of SiNW arrays with a medium length showed better performance and could be further improved by enhancing the MLG conductivity via appropriate surface treatment or doping. Eventually, a photoconversion efficiency up to 2.15% is obtained by the means of filling the interspace of SiNW array with graphene suspension.