Self-powered broadband photosensing through the pyro-phototronic effect in 1D SnO2 nanoneedles/2D SnS2 nanoflowers heterostructure

Owing to their elevated surface-to-volume ratios and distinctive geometrical attributes, low-dimensional materials, specifically 1D nanoneedles, and 2D nanosheets, have garnered significant interest in the pursuit of advancing broadband photodetectors with heightened performance capabilities. The increasing attention directed towards metal chalcogenides can be ascribed to their remarkable characteristics, including elevated electron mobility, outstanding chemical stability, and versatile utility across various scientific domains such as sensing, energy storage applications, supercapacitors, and lithium-ion batteries. This study introduces a novel photodetector based on 1D SnO2 nanoneedles/2D SnS2 nanoflowers heterostructure synthesized through a hydrothermal method. The photodetector demonstrates enhanced peak-to-peak transient currents, with factors of 9214 %, 33291 %, 121972 %, 109091 %, and 7496 % at wavelengths of 365, 456, 532, 632, and 850 nm, respectively, compared to pristine SnS2, and exhibits an enhancement in pyroelectric current with factors of 16733 %, 97643 %, 219400 %, 291333 %, and 26777 % at the corresponding wavelengths. Upon the incorporation of the pyro-phototronic effect in the heterostructure, the responsivity of the photodetector undergoes a significant enhancement, reaching values of 3.65, 2.40, 9.28, 10.44, and 2.71 mA/W, corresponding to improvements of 1952 %, 2600 %, 28114 %, 18545 %, and 491 % at the respective wavelengths, compared to photovoltaic responsivity, under zero bias. This study offers an effective approach to enhancing the capabilities of broadband photodetectors by integrating the pyro-phototronic effect in mixed-dimensional photodetectors.