Polarization-sensitive near-infrared photodetectors based on silver telluride nanowires with a high dichroic ratio

This work presents a study on polarization-sensitive near-infrared photodetectors based on Ag 2 Te nanowires. High-quality single-crystalline Ag 2 Te nanowires are synthesized via chemical vapor deposition. The fabricated photodetector exhibits competitive performance compared to other nanoscale silver chalcogenide-based devices. Under 780 nm light illumination at room temperature, the photodetector demonstrates a responsivity of 0.65 A/W, an external quantum efficiency of 102.74%, a specific detectivity of 1.09 × 10 9 Jones, and a response time of 21 ms, maintaining stability over 100 photo-switching cycles. The dark current, photocurrent, responsivity and specific detectivity are characterized and studied across a temperature range of 100 to 300 K. Notably, the photodetector displays excellent polarization angle-dependent photo-response, achieving a maximum linear dichroic ratio of 12.1 under 830 nm light illumination. Such a linear dichroic ratio of 12.1 surpasses that of most reported nanoscale polarized near-infrared photodetectors, and is promising for practical applications. These findings highlight the potential of Ag 2 Te nanowire-based photodetectors for practical applications in polarization-sensitive near-infrared detection. • High-quality Ag 2 Te nanowires with monoclinic crystal structure grown via the chemical vapor deposition method. • Comprehensive structural characterization confirms high-quality Ag 2 Te NWs. • The photodetector based on single Ag 2 Te nanowire shows high responsivity and EQE at room temperature. • Temperature-dependent photo-response characteristics studied from 100–300 K. • Dichroic ratio of 12.1 at 830 nm surpasses most reported polarized NIR detectors.