A high-performance organic–inorganic self-powered broadband photodetector based on PANI/Bi2O2S nanocomposites

Abstract

The rapid development of the internet of things (IOT) has led to a great demand for low-cost and high-performance self-powered photodetectors with ease of preparation. However, current self-powered photodetectors remain restricted by the high preparation costs or poor performance in the broad-spectrum range. In this paper, we report an organic–inorganic heterostructure self-powered photodetector constructed by compositing polyaniline (PANI) with Bi₂O₂S nanosheets, which showcases great potential in the IOT system, benefiting from the synergy of low cost and high performance in the broad-spectrum range (350–760 nm). In detail, at 0 V, the photocurrent density reached the maximum of ∼2.9 μA cm⁻², while the dark current density was only ∼16 nA cm⁻². Thus, the developed self-powered photodetector gave the maximum responsivity of ∼29.5 mA W⁻¹ at 350 nm under 0 V, which is comparable to that of commercial self-powered electronic products with superior performance. The prominent performance of the device is attributed to the formation of an S-type heterojunction, which could be confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) and photoluminescence (PL). In addition, the response time (0.1 s) and cycle stability (over 10 days) confirm the reliability of the equipment. Overall, the proposed device provides a promising route for developing a low-cost, high-performance, broad-spectrum self-powered photodetector.