Self-powered silicon-based tubular 3D photodetector enabled by self-rolling of U-shaped graphene/III-V semiconductors heterostructure

Silicon-based tubular 3D photodetectors (St3dPDs) play a significant role in the fields of biomimetic vision and military surveillance due to their wide-angle detection ability, low cost, high integration density and the potential for self-powered operation. However, to the best of our knowledge, such photodetectors have not achieved self-powered operation, mainly due to the challenge of constructing tubular heterostructure and designing electrode compatible with it. In this work, a self-powered St3dPDs was successfully fabricated by growing high-quality III-V semiconductors layers on silicon via molecular beam epitaxy, followed by mechanically guided self-rolling of U-shaped graphene/GaAs/InGaAs heterostructures onto preset planar electrodes. The as-fabricated photodetector realized self-powered operation from ultraviolet to near-infrared, with a responsivity of 28.9 mA/W, a fast rising/falling time (τr/τf) of 514/742 μs, a detectivity of 8.03×106 Jones and omnidirectional detection ability within a wide-angle range of ±70° under 638 nm laser illumination. Our work provides a method for self-powered operation, contributing to the development of multifunctional devices.