Optoelectronic Applications of Molybdenum Disulfide Photodetectors

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), a two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide, has emerged as a versatile platform for photodetection owing to its tunable direct bandgap, strong light–matter interaction and high carrier mobility. Monolayer and few-layer forms of MoS₂ absorb across the visible and near-infrared spectrum, while engineered defects, heterostructures and integrated dielectrics extend detection into the short-wave infrared. These photodetectors deliver high responsivity, fast response times and low noise, making them attractive for applications in imaging arrays, optical communications, environmental sensing, night-vision systems and on-chip photonic circuits. Recent work has tackled key challenges—namely enhancing broadband sensitivity, suppressing dark current, improving speed and integrating devices into scalable arrays—thereby advancing MoS₂ photodetectors towards real-world optoelectronic technologies.

Research from Nature Portfolio

One foundational advance demonstrated a negative-capacitance MoS₂ phototransistor where a thin layer of ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide amplifies the photogating effect and achieves a hysteresis-free subthreshold slope below 20 mV/dec. This device reached ultrahigh detectivity at room temperature by combining voltage amplification from the ferroelectric layer with strong light-induced gating. Another significant development realised an active-pixel image sensor array based on bilayer MoS₂ grown over large areas. In an 8 × 8 pixel array, each phototransistor delivered responsivity exceeding 100 A/W under visible light and demonstrated high spatial resolution imaging through light stencil projection. A further pioneering strategy created serial nano-bridge multi-heterojunctions by selectively layering mono- and multi-layer MoS₂ films. The resulting device exhibited ultrasensitive broadband detection from visible to infrared, with responsivities up to 10⁶ A/W and a scalable process for integrated optoelectronic circuits.

Optoelectronic Applications of Molybdenum Disulfide Photodetectors publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in optoelectronic applications of molybdenum disulfide photodetectors across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Photogating effect: Enhancement of photodetector sensitivity through trapped charges that modulate channel conductivity.

Responsivity: Ratio of photocurrent generated to incident optical power, measured in A/W.

Detectivity (D*): Figure of merit quantifying noise-limited sensitivity, expressed in Jones (cm Hz½ W⁻¹).

Negative capacitance: Phenomenon in ferroelectric materials that amplifies voltage changes, improving subthreshold slope.

P-n homojunction: Interface within a single semiconductor where p-type and n-type regions form a built-in electric field for carrier separation.

References

1. Ultrasensitive negative capacitance phototransistors. Nature Communications (2020).
2. Highly sensitive active pixel image sensor array driven by large-area bilayer MoS2 transistor circuitry. Nature Communications (2021).
3. Ultrasensitive MoS2 photodetector by serial nano-bridge multi-heterojunction. Nature Communications (2019).
4. Engineering electrode interfaces for telecom-band photodetection in MoS2/Au heterostructures via sub-band light absorption. Light: Science & Applications (2023).
5. An Ultrasensitive and Broad‐Spectrum MoS2 Photodetector with Extrinsic Response Using Surrounding Homojunction. Advanced Science (2024).
6. A High-Performance MoS2-Based Visible–Near-Infrared Photodetector from Gateless Photogating Effect Induced by Nickel Nanoparticles. Research (2023).