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Controllable synthesis of p-type Cu2S nanowires for self-driven NIR photodetector application

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Abstract

Face-centered cubic Cu2S nanowires with length of up to 50 μm and diameters in the range of 100–500 nm are synthesized on Si substrates through the chemical vapor deposition method using a mixed gas of Ar and H2 as the carrier gas under a chamber pressure of about 700 Torr. It was found that the growth of quasi 1D nanostructure followed a typical vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism in which the element Cu was reduced by H2 as the catalyst. The as-synthesized Cu2S nanowires exhibited typical p-type semiconducting characteristics with a conductivity of about 600 S cm−1 and a hole mobility (μ h) of about 72 cm2 V−1 s−1. Further study reveals that p-Cu2S nanowires/n-Si heterojunction exhibits distinct rectifying characteristics with a turn-on voltage of ~0.6 V and a rectification ratio of ~300 at ±1 V in the dark and a pronounced photovoltaic behavior with an open circuit voltage (V oc) of 0.09 V and a short circuit current (I sc) of 65 nA when illuminated by the NIR light (790 nm, 0.35 mW cm−1), giving rise to a responsivity (R) about 0.8 mA W−1 and specific detectivity (D*) 6.7 × 1010 cm Hz1/2 W−1 at zero bias, which suggests the potential of as-synthesized Cu2S nanowires applied in the field of self-driven NIR photodetector.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, nos. 21501038, 61575059), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province of China (nos. 1408085MB31, J2014AKZR0036), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (nos. 2012HGCX0003, 2013HGXJ0195, 2013HGCH0012, 2014HGCH0005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronic Science and Applied Physics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui, 230009, People’s Republic of China

    Chun-Yan Wu, Zhi-Qiang Pan, Zhu Liu, You-Yi Wang, Yong-Qiang Yu, Li Wang & Lin-Bao Luo

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering and Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials and Devices, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui, 230009, People’s Republic of China

    Feng-Xia Liang

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  1. Chun-Yan Wu
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  2. Zhi-Qiang Pan
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  3. Zhu Liu
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  4. You-Yi Wang
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  7. Li Wang
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  8. Lin-Bao Luo
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Correspondence to Chun-Yan Wu or Lin-Bao Luo.

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Wu, CY., Pan, ZQ., Liu, Z. et al. Controllable synthesis of p-type Cu2S nanowires for self-driven NIR photodetector application. J Nanopart Res 19, 35 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-016-3736-z

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