High-sensitivity shortwave infrared photodetectors of metal-organic frameworks integrated on 2D layered materials

Photodetectors operating in the shortwave infrared region are of great significance due to their extensive applications in both commercial and military fields. Narrowbandgap two-dimensional layered materials (2DLMs) are considered as the promising candidates for constructing next-generation high-performance infrared photodetectors. Nevertheless, the performance of 2DLMs-based photodetectors can hardly satisfy the requirements of practical applications due to their weak optical absorption. In the present study, a strategy was proposed to design high-performance shortwave infrared photodetectors by integrating metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) nanoparticles with excellent optical absorption characteristics and 2DLM with high mobility. Further, this study demonstrated the practicability of this strategy in a MOF/2DLM (Ni-CAT-1/Bi2Se3) hybrid heterojunction photodetector. Due to the transfer of photo-generated carriers from the MOF to Bi2Se3, the MOF nanoparticles integrated on the Bi2Se3 layer can increase the photocurrent by 2–3 orders of magnitude. The resulting photodetector presented a high responsivity of 4725 AW−1 and a superior detectivity of 3.5 × 1013 Jones at 1500 nm. The outstanding performance of the hybrid heterojunction arises from the synergistic function of the enhanced optical absorption and photogating effect. In addition, the proposed device construction strategy combining MOF photosensitive materials with 2DLMs shows a high potential for the future high-performance shortwave infrared photodetectors.