Highly Sensitive Flexible Photodetectors Based on Self-Assembled Tin Monosulfide Nanoflakes with Graphene Electrodes

Abstract

Tin monosulfide (SnS) nanostructures have attracted huge attention recently because of their high absorption coefficient, high photoconversion efficiencies, low energy cost, ease of deposition, and so on. Here, in this paper, we report on the low-cost hydrothermal synthesis of the self-assembled SnS nanoflake-like structures in terms of performance for the photodetectors. High-performance photodetectors were fabricated using SnS nanoflakes as active layers and graphene as the lateral electrodes. The SnS photodetectors exhibited excellent photoresponse properties with a high responsivity of 1.7 X 10(4) A/W and have fast response and recovery times. In addition, the photodetectors exhibited long-term stability and strong dependence of photocurrent on light intensity. These excellent characteristics were attributed to the larger surface-to-volume ratio of the self-assembled SnS nanoflakes and the effective separation of the photogenerated carriers at graphene/SnS interfaces. Additionally, a flexible photodetector based on SnS nanoflakes was also fabricated on a flexible substrate that demonstrated similar photosensitive properties. Furthermore, this study also demonstrates the potential of hydrothermal-processed SnS nanoflakes for high-performance photodetectors and their application in flexible low-cost optoelectronic devices.