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Strain-engineered inverse charge-funnelling in layered semiconductors

De Sanctis, Adolfo; Amit, Iddo; Hepplestone, Steven P; Craciun, Monica F; Russo, Saverio

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Authors

Adolfo De Sanctis

Steven P Hepplestone

Monica F Craciun

Saverio Russo



Abstract

The control of charges in a circuit due to an external electric field is ubiquitous to the exchange, storage and manipulation of information in a wide range of applications. Conversely, the ability to grow clean interfaces between materials has been a stepping stone for engineering built-in electric fields largely exploited in modern photovoltaics and opto-electronics. The emergence of atomically thin semiconductors is now enabling new ways to attain electric fields and unveil novel charge transport mechanisms. Here, we report the first direct electrical observation of the inverse charge-funnel effect enabled by deterministic and spatially resolved strain-induced electric fields in a thin sheet of HfS2. We demonstrate that charges driven by these spatially varying electric fields in the channel of a phototransistor lead to a 350% enhancement in the responsivity. These findings could enable the informed design of highly efficient photovoltaic cells.

Citation

De Sanctis, A., Amit, I., Hepplestone, S. P., Craciun, M. F., & Russo, S. (2018). Strain-engineered inverse charge-funnelling in layered semiconductors. Nature Communications, 9, Article 1652. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04099-7

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 4, 2018
Online Publication Date Apr 25, 2018
Publication Date Apr 25, 2018
Deposit Date Jul 5, 2018
Publicly Available Date Jul 6, 2018
Journal Nature Communications
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 9
Article Number 1652
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04099-7

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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