Ultrasensitive Flexible Solar-Blind Photodetectors Based on Graphene/Amorphous Ga₂O₃ van der Waals Heterojunctions

Abstract

Flexible photodetectors (PDs) have become the latest research interest owing to their potential applications in future implantable sensors and foldable/wearable optoelectronics. Ga₂O₃, an emerging ultrawide band gap semiconductor, is considered as the native photosensitive material for solar-blind PDs. The reported fabrication temperature of Ga₂O₃ films is usually above 600 °C, which hinders its practical application for flexible devices. In this work, flexible PDs based on graphene/amorphous Ga₂O₃ van der Waals heterojunctions are fabricated, which demonstrate promising photoresponse to solar-blind ultraviolet light. The device yields a high photo-to-dark current ratio (∼10⁵) and large responsivity (22.75 A/W) under 254 nm light illumination, which could be ascribed to the efficient photogenerated electron-hole pair separation by the strong built-in field. Moreover, flexible PDs also show long-term environmental stability and outstanding mechanical flexibility without any encapsulation. Our work provides a new potential candidate for realizing cost-effective high-performance flexible optoelectronic applications.