Broadband, Polarization-Sensitive, and Self-Powered High-Performance Photodetection of Hetero-Integrated MoS2 on Lithium Niobate.

High-performance photodetectors hold promising potential in optical communication and imaging systems. However, conventional counterparts are suffering narrow detection range, high power consumption, and poor polarization sensitivity. Characteristics originating from switchable polarization in ferroelectrics can be used to optimize the photo-to-electric procedure and improve the photodetection performance. In this regard, we constructed a configuration by integrating 2-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) with ferroelectric lithium niobate (LiNbO3), resulting in the MoS2/LiNbO3 heterostructured photodetector. Benefiting from the pyroelectric effect of LiNbO3, the limitation of bandgap on the detection range can be broken, thus broadening the response band of the detector to 365 to 1,064 nm, as well as enabling the self-powered characteristic. Meanwhile, high carrier mobility and decent light absorbance of MoS2 introduce robust light-matter interactions with the underlying LiNbO3, leading to ultrafast rise/fall times of ≈150 µs/250 µs and switching ratios of up to ≈190. Moreover, the highest responsivity, specific detectivity, and external quantum efficiency achieved were 17.3 A·W-1, 4.3 × 1011 Jones, and 4,645.78%, respectively. Furthermore, because of the anisotropy of the spontaneous-polarized LiNbO3 substrate, the photocurrent of the device achieved a dichroic ratio of 7.42, comparing favorably to most MoS2-based photodetectors. This work demonstrates the integration potential between ferroelectric LiNbO3 and 2-dimensional materials for high-performance photodetection.