Enhanced NO_2 gas sensing of a single-layer MoS_2 by photogating and piezo-phototronic effects

NO_2 sensors with ultrahigh sensitivity are demanded for future electronic sensing systems. However,traditional sensors are considerably limited by the relative low sensitivity, high cost and complicated process. Here, we report a simply and reliable flexible NO_2 sensor based on single-layer MoS_2. The flexible sensor exhibits high sensitivity to NO_2 gas due to ultra-large specific surface area and the nature of two-dimensional(2 D) semiconductor. When the NO_2 is 400 ppb(parts per billion), compared with the dark and strain-free conditions, the sensitivity of the single-layer sensor is enhanced to 671% with a625 nm red light-emitting diode(LED) illumination of 4 mW/cm^2 power under 0.67% tensile strain.More important, the response time is dramatically reduced to $16 s and it only needs $65 s to complete90% recovery. A theoretical model is proposed to discuss the microscopic mechanisms. We find that the remarkable sensing characteristics are the result of coupling among piezoelectricity, photoelectricity and adsorption-desorption induced charges transfer in the single-layer MoS_2 Schottky junction based device.Our work opens up the way to further enhancements in the sensitivity of gas sensor based on single-layer MoS_2 by introducing photogating and piezo-phototronic effects in mesoscopic systems.

Piezo-phototronic and pyro-phototronic effects to enhance Cu（In, Ga）Se2 thin film solar cells

Cu（In, Ga）Se2 （CIGS）-based materials have gained remarkable attention for thin-film photovoltaic applications due to their high absorption coefficient, tunable bandgap, compositional tolerance, outstanding stabilities, and high efficiency. A small increase in the efficiency of CIGS solar cells has huge economic impact and practical importance. As such, we fabricated a flexible CIGS solar cell on a mica substrate and demonstrated the enhanced device performance through the piezo- and pyro-phototronic effects based on a ZnO thin film. The device showed enhanced energy conversion efficiency from 13.48% to 14.23% by decreasing the temperature from 31 to 2℃ at a rate of - 0.6℃·s^-1 via the pyro-phototronic effect, and further enhanced from 14.23% to 14.37% via the piezo-phototronic effect by further applying a static compressive strain. A pyro-electric nanogenerator effect was also found to promote the performance of the CIGS solar cell at the beginning of the cooling process. The manipulated energy band of the CIGS/CdS/ZnO heterojunction under the influence of the inner pyroelectric and piezoelectric potentials is believed to contribute to these phenomena. Applying the piezo- and pyro-phototronic effects simultaneously offers a new opportunity for enhancing the output performance of commercial thin film solar cells.

Fabry-Perot interference and piezo-phototronic effect enhanced flexible MoS_(2) photodetector

Flexible photodetectors(PDs)are indispensable components for next-generation wearable electronics.Recently,two-dimensional(2D)materials have been implemented as functional flexible optoelectronic devices due to their characteristics of atomically thin layers,excellent flexibility,and strain sensitivity.In this work,we developed a flexible photodetector based on MoS_(2)/NiO heterojunction,and Fabry-Perot(F-P)and piezo-phototronic effect have been employed to enhance the responsivity(R)and external quantum efficiency(EQE)of the devices.The F-P effect is utilized to improve the optical absorption of the MoS_(2),resulting in an enhancement in the photoluminescence(PL)of monolayer MoS_(2) and the EQE of the photodetector by 30 and 130 times,respectively.The flexible photodetector exhibits an ultrahigh detectivity(D*)of 2.6×10^(14) Jones,which is the highest value ever reported for flexible MoS_(2) PDs.The piezo-potential of monolayer MoS_(2) decreases the valence band offset at the interface of MoS_(2)/NiO,which increases the transfer efficiency of the photon-generated carriers significantly.Under 1.17%tensile strain,the R of the flexible photodetector can be enhanced by 271%.This research may provide a universal strategy for the design and performance optimization of 2D materials heterostructures for flexible optoelectronics.

Flexible,stretchable,and transparent InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells/polyacrylamide hydrogel-based light emitting diodes

Visualization is a direct,efficient,and simple interface method to realize the interaction between human and machine,whereas the flexible display unit,as the major bottleneck,still deeply hinders the advances of wearable and virtual reality devices.To obtain flexible optoelectronic devices,one of the effective methods is to transfer a high-efficient and long-lifetime inorganic optoelectronic film from its rigid epitaxial substrate to a foreign flexible/soft substrate.Additionally,piezo-phototronic effect is a fundamental theory for guiding the design of flexible optoelectronic devices.Herein,we demonstrate a flexible,stretchable,and transparent InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells(MQWs)/polyacrylamide(PAAM)hydrogel-based light emitting diode coupling with the piezo-phototronic effect.The quantum well energy band and integrated luminous intensity(increased by more than 31.3%)are significantly modulated by external mechanical stimuli in the device.Benefiting from the small Young's modulus of hydrogel and weak Van der Waals force,the composite film can endure an extreme tensile condition of about 21.1%stretching with negligible tensile strains transmitted to the InGaN/GaN MQWs.And the stable photoluminescence characteristics can be observed.Moreover,the hydrogen-bond adsorption and excellent transparency of the hydrogel substrate greatly facilitate the packaging and luminescence of the optoelectronic device.And thus,such a novel integration scheme of inorganic semiconductor materials and organic hydrogel materials would help to guide the robust stretchable optoelectronic devices,and show great potential in emerging wearable devices and virtual reality applications.