Largely enhanced photogalvanic effects in the phosphorene photodetector by strain-increased device asymmetry

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that applying mechanical strain to a nickel-phosphorene-nickel photodetector significantly amplifies the photogalvanic effect, enhancing photocurrent by up to three orders of magnitude through increased device asymmetry.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel approach to substantially boost the photogalvanic effect in 2D materials by mechanical strain, highlighting the role of device asymmetry in photocurrent enhancement.

Findings

Photocurrent can be increased by up to 3 orders of magnitude with strain.

Device asymmetry linearly influences the photocurrent.

Mechanical bending further enhances the photocurrent.

Abstract

Photogalvanic effect (PGE) occurring in noncentrosymmetric materials enables the generation of the open-circuit voltage that is much larger than the bandgap, making it rather attractive in solar cells. However, the magnitude of the PGE photocurrent is usually small, which severely hampers its practical application. Here we propose a mechanism to largely enhance the PGE photocurrent by mechanical strain based on the quantum transport simulations for the two-dimensional nickel-phosphorene-nickel photodetector. Broadband PGE photocurrent governed by the Cs noncentrosymmetry is generated at zero bias under the illumination of linearly polarized light. The photocurrent depends linearly on the device asymmetry, while nonlinearly on the optical absorption. By applying the appropriate mechanical tension stress on the phosphorene, the photocurrent can be substantially enhanced by up to 3 orders of magnitude, which is primarily ascribed to the largely increased device asymmetry. The change in the optical absorption in some cases can also play a critical role in tuning the photocurrent due to the nonlinear dependence. Moreover, the photocurrent can even be further enhanced by the mechanical bending, mainly owing to the considerably enhanced device asymmetry. Our results reveal the dependence of the PGE photocurrent on the device asymmetry and absorption in transport process through a device, and also explore the potentials of the PGE in the self-powered low-dimensional flexible optoelectronics.