Ultra-broadband photodetector based on three-dimensional graphene

Abstract

Graphene is a hot material for photodetectors due to its high carrier mobility, superior electronic and optical properties. However, the low optical absorption (2.3%) of graphene results in a low photoresponsivity, which limits its wide application in photodetection field. Three-dimensional (3D) graphene with connection carbon nanomaterials is expected to possess better optical and electrical properties than single-layer graphene. In this paper, we studied an ultra-broadband photodetector based on 3D graphene and investigated the different photoresponse with three kinds of 3D graphene including the 3D reduced oxide graphene foam (rGOF), the 3D Nickel (Ni) skeleton graphene foam (GF) and the 3D removal of nickel graphene foam (RNi GF). Obvious photocurrents and ultra-broadband absorption from ultraviolet (UV) spectrum to terahertz (THz) region can be measure in the three 3D GF. A high photoresponsivity of 50 mA W-1 and a fast time response of 100 ms have been achieved. Particularly, the 3D RNi GF presents the highest absorption coefficient of 200 cm-1 at THz region. The results reveal 3D graphene a good candidate for broadband photodetectors.