Piezo-phototronic Effect Enhanced Responsivity of Photon Sensor Based on Composition-Tunable Ternary CdS_<i>x</i>Se_1–<i>x</i> Nanowires

The piezotronic effect and piezo-phototronic effect on materials and devices have been widely studied in binary semiconductors. Wide-band ternary semiconductors are a great class of materials with potential application in nano/microdevices, because of their continuously tunable physical properties with composition. Here, we first demonstrate the piezo-photronics effect of ternary wurtzite structured nanowires (NWs), opening an innovative materials system. Single-crystal ternary CdSxSe1–x (x = 0.85, 0.60, and 0.38) NWs were synthesized with site-controlled compositions via a chemical vapor deposition process, and high-performance visible photodetectors (PDs) with fast response speed (<2 ms), high photosensitivity, high responsivity, and broadened photoresponse region (than CdS NW) were fabricated based on these ternary materials. By introducing an external tensile strain, the performance of PDs is enhanced by 76.7% upon 0.2 mW/cm2 442 nm light illumination for CdS0.85Se0.15 by the piezo-phototronic effect. The composition effect of materials in ternary materials on light detecting and piezo-phototronics was also first investigated systematically. The results indicate that in the CdSxSe1–x system, as the value of x decreases, the photocurrent and responsivity experience an increase, while the enhancement of the piezo-phototronic effect was weakened. The change in piezoelectric coefficient and carrier screening effect are proposed for the observed phenomenon. This study reports a high-quality ternary CdSxSe1–x NWs system used for high-performance PDs, broadens the family of piezotronic materials, offers an innovative material for high-performance visible PD, and provides a new pathway to modulate the performance of piezo-phototronic devices by tuning the atomic ratios of ternary wurtzite semiconducting materials. This is essential for developing a full understanding of piezotronics on a broader scope, and it also enables the development of the better performance of optoelectronic devices.