Infrared Photodetection from 2D/3D van der Waals Heterostructures

Abstract

An infrared photodetector is a critical component that detects, identifies, and tracks complex targets in a detection system. Infrared photodetectors based on 3D bulk materials are widely applied in national defense, military, communications, and astronomy fields. The complex application environment requires higher performance and multi-dimensional capability. The emergence of 2D materials has brought new possibilities to develop next-generation infrared detectors. However, the inherent thickness limitations and the immature preparation of 2D materials still lead to low quantum efficiency and slow response speeds. This review summarizes 2D/3D hybrid van der Waals heterojunctions for infrared photodetection. First, the physical properties of 2D and 3D materials related to detection capability, including thickness, band gap, absorption band, quantum efficiency, and carrier mobility, are summarized. Then, the primary research progress of 2D/3D infrared detectors is reviewed from performance improvement (broadband, high-responsivity, fast response) and new functional devices (two-color detectors, polarization detectors). Importantly, combining low-doped 3D and flexible 2D materials can effectively improve the responsivity and detection speed due to a significant depletion region width. Furthermore, combining the anisotropic 2D lattice structure and high absorbance of 3D materials provides a new strategy in high-performance polarization detectors. This paper offers prospects for developing 2D/3D high-performance infrared detection technology.

Enhancing solar-to-hydrogen efficiency with an S-scheme GaTe/PtS2 van der Waals heterojunction with high light absorption

“…7 To address this issue, numerous van der Waals heterojunctions (vdwHs) with distinct configurations can be easily fabricated by vertically stacking 2D semiconductor materials with different atomic thicknesses. 8,9 vdwHs are characterized by weak van der Waals forces holding the layers together, instead of strong covalent bonds, making them versatile for diverse material combinations. As a result, researchers have turned to van der Waals heterojunctions as promising catalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen production from water.…”

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“…Consequently, extensive efforts have been dedicated to the exploration of van der Waals (vdW) heterojunctions, including zero-dimensional/2D, one-dimensional/2D, 2D/2D and 2D/3D configurations [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. These vdW heterojunctions exhibit intriguing electrical and optoelectrical properties and show promising potential for the next generation electronics and optoelectronics [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41].…”

Functional Nanomaterials for Sensing and Detection

“…W. Sun et al synthesized an oriented hexagonal boron nitride on gallium nitride via chemical vapor deposition for a vertical-ordered h-BN/GaN heterojunction photodetector, which exhibited high ultraviolet photoresponsivity [ 9 ]. In addition, T. He et al summarized 2D/3D hybrid van der Waals heterojunctions for an infrared photodetector, and they discussed the prospects for the development of 2D/3D high-performance infrared detection technology [ 10 ].…”