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Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials exhibit enormous potential in photodetectors because of novel and extraordinary properties, such as passivated surfaces, tunable bandgaps, and high mobility. High-performance photodetectors based on 2D materials have been fabricated for broadband, position, polarization-sensitive detection, and large-area array imaging. However, the current performance of 2D material photodetectors is not outstanding enough, including response speed, detectivity, and so forth. The way to further promote the development of 2D material photodetectors and their corresponding practical applications is still a tremendous challenge. In this article, these issues of 2D material photodetectors are analyzed and expected to be solved by combining micro-nano characterization technologies. The inherent physical properties of 2D materials and photodetectors can be accurately characterized by Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scattering scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM). In particular, the precise probe of lattice defects, doping concentration, and near-field light absorption characteristics can promote the researches of low-noise and high-responsivity photodetectors. Scanning photocurrent microscope (SPCM) can show the overall spatial distribution of photocurrent and analyze the mechanism of photocurrent. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and Kelvin probe force microscope (KPFM) can characterize the material bandgap, work function distribution and interlayer coupling characteristics, making it possible to design high-performance photodetectors through energy band engineering. These advanced characterization techniques cover the entire process from material growth, to device preparation, and to performance analysis, and systematically reveal the development status of 2D material photodetectors. Finally, the prospects and challenges are discussed to promote the application of 2D material photodetectors.

With the increasing demand for multispectral information acquisition, infrared multispectral imaging technology that is inexpensive and can be miniaturized and integrated into other devices has received extensive attention. However, the widespread usage of such photodetectors is still limited by the high cost of epitaxial semiconductors and complex cryogenic cooling systems. Here, we demonstrate a noncooled two-color infrared photodetector that can provide temporal-spatial coexisting spectral blackbody detection at both near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths. This photodetector consists of vertically stacked back-to-back diode structures. The two-color signals can be effectively separated to achieve ultralow crosstalk of ~0.05% by controlling the built-in electric field depending on the intermediate layer, which acts as an electron-collecting layer and hole-blocking barrier. The impressive performance of the two-color photodetector is verified by the specific detectivity (D*) of 6.4 × 109 cm Hz1/2 W−1 at 3.5 μm and room temperature, as well as the promising NIR/MWIR two-color infrared imaging and absolute temperature detection.

Van der Waals heterojunctions based on atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted numerous attention for their special scientific research value and promising applications in photoelectric and micro-nano electronic devices. Especially, the carrier generation, separation, and extraction process in 2D materials can be easily modulated by external field, which may facilitate some multifunctional electronics and optoelectronics. In this paper, we report a unique type-II band alignment ReS2/MoTe2 heterojunction with rectification inversion due to the fact the bottom few-layer MoTe2 can be easily tuned from p-type to n-type state through the applied back-gate voltage. Then we study photodetection properties of ReS2/MoTe2 heterojunction, a relatively fast photoresponse time of 109 μs and a considerable photoresponsivity of 0.34 AW−1 for 520 nm at room temperature show great potential in photodetection. Our studies of ReS2/MoTe2 heterojunction with rectification inversion and high-performance photodetection will facilitate the development of electronics and optoelectronics based on atomically-thin heterojunctions.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with unique structural and physical properties are urgent to exploit and may be applied in the next-generation electronics and infrared detectors. The homojunction devices are ideal and promising candidates compared to heterojunction devices since there are no interface problems, such as unintentionally induced impurities and charge-trapped sites. In this work, we reported a high-performance MoSe2 homojunction infrared photodetector. MoSe2 homojunction devices directly consist of thick and thin MoSe2. MoSe2 homojunction diodes exhibit different rectified characteristics including forward and reverse rectifications, which are dependent on the back-gate voltage. Remarkably, MoSe2 homojunction photodetectors possess a broadband photoresponse with the wavelength from visible to near-infrared at room temperature. The responsivity of MoSe2 homojunction photodetectors under 940 nm laser illumination is approximately 2.25 A W−1. Additionally, the obtained specific detectivity of MoSe2 homojunction device is over 1010 Jones. Our findings provide an excellent way to fabricate feasible homojunction devices. Meanwhile, homojunction devices also show the wealthy potential in novel electronic and optoelectronic devices.