Contact printing of horizontally-aligned p-type Zn₃P₂ nanowire arrays for rigid and flexible photodetectors

Zn₃P₂ is an important p-type semiconductor with the ability to detect almost all visible and ultraviolet light. By using the simple and efficient contact printing process, we reported the assembly of horizontally-aligned p-type Zn₃P₂ nanowire arrays to be used as building blocks for high performance photodetectors. Horizontally-aligned Zn₃P₂ nanowire arrays were first printed on silicon substrate to make thin-film transistors, exhibiting typical p-type transistor behavior with a high on/off ratio of 10³. Besides, the Zn₃P₂ nanowire array based devices showed a substantial response to illuminated lights with a wide range of wavelengths and densities. Flexible photodetectors were also fabricated by contact printing of horizontally-aligned Zn₃P₂ nanowire arrays on flexible PET substrate, showing a comparable performance to the device on rigid silicon substrate.