Progress in self-driven photodetection of ferroelectric crystal materials in Fujian Institute of Materials

[ Instrument Network Instrument Development ] In the new generation of photodetector components, external power supply has always been a key bottleneck restricting system performance and device miniaturization. Therefore, self-driven photodetection without power modules exhibits broad application prospects in next-generation portable, energy-saving optoelectronic devices. Compared to conventional pn junction/heterojunction semiconductor materials, ferroelectric materials provide a simple and efficient way to achieve self-driven photodetection. Under light irradiation, photogenerated electron-hole pairs are generated inside the single-phase ferroelectric material, and the photo-generated carriers are separated under the action of the ferroelectric spontaneous polarization electric field, and the signal voltage and current are generated in the external circuit, thereby realizing the detection of light. However, traditional inorganic ferroelectric materials limit their applications in optoelectronic devices due to their large forbidden band width and weaker semiconductor characteristics. In recent years, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite ferroelectric materials have shown great potential in self-driven photodetection due to their large spontaneous polarization and excellent semiconductor characteristics.

Luo Junhua, Research Fellow, Inorganic Optoelectronic Functional Crystal Materials, State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Outstanding Youth Fund, the Strategic Pilot Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Outstanding Youth Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Self-driven photodetection was first achieved using a two-dimensional hybrid perovskite ferroelectric (CH3CH2NH3)2(CH3NH3)2Pb3Br10. The study found that in the absence of external power supply, the material exhibits excellent photodetection performance under the driving of iron electrode, the photocurrent density can reach ~4.1 μA/cm2, the current switching ratio can reach 106, and the extremely fast photoelectric response. rate. In addition, the ferroelectric material also exhibits an electric field-adjustable photodetection performance.

This work not only provides a solution for the subsequent exploration of multifunctional ferroelectric materials, but also lays a foundation for the application of inorganic-organic hybrid ferroelectric materials in smart optoelectronic devices. The relevant research results were recently published in the form of communication in Germany. Applied Chemistry (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201907660), associate researcher Liu Xitao is the first author of the paper.