High-detectivity tin disulfide nanowire photodetectors with manipulation of localized ferroelectric polarization field

Tin sulfide semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have been widely investigated for photodetection applications because of their good optical and electrical properties. Herein, we synthesized n-type SnS2 NWs and then fabricated SnS2 NW photodetectors with a ferroelectric polymer side-gate. The strong electric field induced by ferroelectric polymer can effectively suppress the dark current and improve the detectivity in SnS2 NW photodetectors. The photodetectors after polarization depletion exhibit a high photoconductive gain of 4.0 × 105 and a high responsivity of 2.1 × 105 A W−1. Compared with devices without polarization depletion, the detectivity of polarization-depleted photodetectors is improved by at least two orders of magnitude, and the highest detectivity is 1.3 × 1016 Jones. Further, the rise and fall time are 56 and 91 ms respectively, which are about tens of times faster than those without polarization depletion. The device also shows a good spectral response from ultraviolet to near-infrared. This study demonstrates that ferroelectric materials can enhance optoelectronic properties of low-dimensional semiconductors for high-performance photodetectors.