in a wide range of industrial applications, such as homeland security, medical diagnostics, food curing, sanitation, chemical and biological threat detection, space-tospace communications, missile detection, military surveillance, target detection and acquisition, transparent thin-film transistors, solar cells, white lighting, sterilization, medical treatment, and touch display panels. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] For example, the most commercial DUV photodetectors are produced using UV-enhanced narrow bandgap semiconductors, mainly Si-based photodetector. [8,9] However, the narrow bandgap materials are ineffective in rejecting signals in the UV−vis−IR spectral region, making them unsuitable for DUV applications. Thus, high-quality DUV WBGSs are still needed to produce high-performance DUV optoelectronic devices. In each of the aforementioned fields, scientists and industry practitioners are looking to overcome different challenges. There is a growing demand for both p-type and n-type WBGSs that possess good stability and conductivity. The main obstacle to the achievement of this goal stems from the lack of p-type wide bandgap materials operating in the DUV range below 300 nm (i.e., >4.1 eV) that exhibit good p-type stability. Currently, the p-type materials having bandgap in the UV-A range (such as p-type GaN, Cu 2 O, and SnO) are utilized in DUV optoelectronics, which severely downgrade device performance, as their bandgaps are limited to the UV-A-to-visible spectral region (320-400 nm). [10,11] Moreover, though n-type WBGSs (e.g., ZnO, Ga 2 O 3 , and AlGaN) with good conductivity and stability can operate in the UV and DUV range (280−390 nm), it is not possible to convert them to a p-type material with good stability and conductivity due to their intrinsic electronic properties. [2,6,[11][12][13][14][15][16] Consequently, no highly stable conductive p-type DUV WBGS operating in both UV-B and UV-C region presently exists. [17] Further advances in the field of DUV optoelectronics are hindered by other issues, such as the difficulty in developing new cost-effective material production and fabrication methods that could replace the expensive and high vacuum-based technologies presently in use. Thus, as DUV-WBGS based devices tend Wide bandgap semiconductor (WBGS)-based deep UV (DUV) devices lag behind those operating in the visible and IR range, as no stable p-type WBGS that operates in the DUV region (<300 nm) presently exists. Here, solutionprocessed p-type manganese oxide WBGS quantum dots (MnO QDs) are explored. Highly crystalline MnO QDs are synthesized via femtosecond-laser ablation in liquid. The p-type nature of these QDs is demonstrated by Kelvin probe and field effect transistor measurements, along with density functional theory calculations. As proof of concept, a high-performance, self-powered, and solar-blind Schottky DUV photodetector based on such QDs is fabricated, which is capable of detecting under ambient conditions. The carrier collection efficiency is enhanced by asymmetric electrode structure, leadi...

A highly crystalline single-or few-layered 2D-MoS 2 induces a high dark current, due to which an extremely small photocurrent generated by a few photons can be veiled or distorted. In this report, we show that suppression in the dark current with the enhancement in the photocurrent of a 2D-based photodetector, which is a prerequisite for photoresponse enhancement, can be achieved by constructing an ideal p-n junction based on functionalizing n-type 2D-MoS 2 with p-type quantum dots (QDs). Highly crystalline solution-processed manganese oxide QDs (MnO QDs) are synthesized via the pulsed femtosecond laser ablation technique in ethanol. The ablated MnO QDs are spray-coated on an exfoliated 2D-MoS 2 substrate with interdigitated Au electrodes through N 2 -assisted spraying. In the resulting MnO QD-decorated 2D-MoS 2 photodetector with a heterojunction, dark current is reduced and is accompanied by photocurrent enhancement, thereby markedly improving the photoresponsivity and detectivity of MoS 2 -based devices. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms contributing to this enhancement, power-and wavelength-dependent photoresponses, along with material characterizations based on spectroscopic, chemical, morphological measurements, and analyses, are discussed.

We explore structural, electronic and magnetic properties of two-dimensional (2D) gallium nitride (GaN) monolayer (ML) doped with different elements belonging to the groups III−VI, using density-functionaltheory (DFT) with the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) functional and the screened hybrid functional (HSE06) approaches as well as molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Dopant interactions in Ga-and Nrich environments are investigated by varying their concentrations from 1.38% to 5.5%. Our calculations reveal that oxygen and aluminium impurities are the most preferred candidates under Ga-and N-rich conditions, respectively. The electronic structure studies indicate that dopants containing an even number of valence electrons introduce magnetic behavior with spin-polarized properties, or n-type conductivity with nonmagnetic features, depending on the stoichiometric III/V ratio during growth. Dopants with an odd number of valence electrons modify the GaN ML band structure from indirect to direct bandgap at the Γ point, depending on dopant types at different III/V ratios as well as substitutional site. The calculated charge transfer explains the dopants' influence on the band structure and bond nature. The HSE calculations of doped g-GaN MLs show a 0.23−1.48 eV increase in the band gaps including the spin polarized band structures when compared with their PBE values. MD calculations suggest high structural stability at high growth temperatures. Such dopant-induced modifications in structural and physical properties of 2D GaN ML could potentially allow use of this material in diverse electronic, optoelectronic and spintronic applications.

Smart solar-blind UV-C band photodetectors suffer from low responsivity in a self-powered mode. Here, we address this issue by fabricating a novel enhanced solar-blind UV-C photodetector array based on solution-processed n-ZnO quantum dots (QDs) functionalized by p-CuO micro-pyramids. Self-assembled catalyst-free p-CuO micro-pyramid arrays are fabricated on a pre-ablated Si substrate by pulsed laser deposition without a need for a catalyst layer or seeding, while the solution-processed n-ZnO QDs are synthesized by the femtosecond-laser ablation in liquid technique. The photodetector is fabricated by spray-coating ZnO QDs on a CuO micro-pyramid array. The photodetector performance is optimized via a p–n junction structure as both p-ZnO QDs and p-CuO micro-pyramid layers are characterized by wide band gap energies. Two photodetectors (with and without CuO micro-pyramids) are fabricated to show the role of p-CuO in enhancing the device performance. The n-ZnO QD/p-CuO micro-pyramid/Si photodetector is characterized by a superior photo-responsivity of ∼956 mA/W at 244 nm with a faster photoresponse (<80 ms) and 260 nm cut-off compared to ZnO QDs/Si photodetectors, confirming that the p-CuO micro-pyramids enhance the device performance. The self-powered photoresponse with a high photo-responsivity of ∼29 mA/W is demonstrated. These high-responsivity solar-bind UV-C photodetector arrays can be used for a wide range of applications.

and military devices. Among these applications, medical diagnostics is particularly significant, but it presently requires direct exposure to high doses of radiation, which is harmful to human health, increasing cancer risk, especially in children. [1,2] Hence, X-ray detectors possessing both high sensitivity and high resolution with a low light interface noise [3,4] are required to minimize the radiation exposure during routine medical diagnostics. In the pertinent literature, use of conventional semiconductors for direct X-ray detection has been reported by several groups, including amorphous Se, [5] crystalline Si, [6] Ge, [7] HgI 2 , [8] CdTe, [9,10] and CdZnTe, [9,10] indicating that the most effective materials are indirect bandgap semiconductors [5-10] that exhibit low light interference noise. However, as such devices possess low sensitivity due to the low atomic number values of their materials, [7] as well as they still require expensive fabrication and complex processing methods, there is a high industrial demand for cost-effective highly sensitive X-ray detectors that are more suited for mass production. Ionic perovskite crystals can be processed from solution at low temperatures, in contrast to covalent bond semiconductors, which require a high-temperature crystallization process. Consequently, lead halogen perovskite has emerged as a promising candidate due to its cost-effectiveness, high crystal quality, high absorption cross-section, high illumination, and ability to form High-energy radiation detectors such as X-ray detectors with low light photoresponse characteristics are used for several applications including, space, medical, and military devices. Here, an indirect bandgap inorganic perovskite-based X-ray detector is reported. The indirect bandgap nature of perovskite materials is revealed through optical characterizations, time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL), and theoretical simulations, demonstrating that the differences in temperature-dependent carrier lifetime related to CsPbX 3 (X = Br, I) perovskite composition are due to the changes in the bandgap structure. TRPL, theoretical analyses, and X-ray radiation measurements reveal that the high response of the UV/visible-blind yellow-phase CsPbI 3 under high-energy X-ray exposure is attributed to the nature of the indirect bandgap structure of CsPbX 3. The yellowphase CsPbI 3-based X-ray detector achieves a relatively high sensitivity of 83.6 μCGy air −1 cm −2 (under 1.7 mGy air s −1 at an electron field of 0.17 V μm −1 used for medical diagnostics) although the active layer is based solely on an ultrathin (≈6.6 μm) CsPbI 3 nanocrystal film, exceeding the values obtained for commercial X-ray detectors, and further confirming good material quality. This CsPbX 3 X-ray detector is sufficient for cost-effective device miniaturization based on a simple design.