Effective self-power photodetector based on photogalvanic effect: A case study for Janus MoSSe-CrSSe lateral heterojunction

The photogalvanic effect (PGE) can produce a photocurrent independent of a p-n junction or bias voltage, but the resulting photocurrent is usually very small. An appropriate lateral heterojunction can effectively enhance PGE. Here, we studied the PGE of a monolayer (ML) Janus MoSSe-CrSSe lateral heterojunction through ab initio quantum transport simulation. Compared with that of a homogeneous material, PGE is enhanced due to the reduced symmetry of the lateral heterojunction, and the maximum increase ratio in the photocurrent is more than two orders of magnitude greater than that of the homogeneous ML MoSSe and CrSSe photodetectors. A peak maximum photocurrent of 13.85 a02/photon and high polarization sensitivity with a maximum extinction ratio of 308 are obtained for the ML MoSSe-CrSSe lateral heterojunction. These favorable properties indicate that the MoSSe-CrSSe lateral heterojunction is a promising candidate for photodetectors.