High-performance flexible photodetectors based on GaTe nanosheets

2D layered GaTe materials have attracted a great deal of attention for optoelectronic applications due to their direct band structure, whether in bulk or as a single layer. In this paper, for the first time, we have synthesized high quality, single crystalline GaTe nanosheets by employing a facile CVD method. The size of the GaTe nanosheets reached several tens of micrometers, and some of them even exceeded 100 μm. In particular, planar GaTe nanosheets were achieved on a mica substrate following a van der Waals epitaxial growth mechanism. Further, through a systematic comparison of the performances under various conditions, we found that adsorbates on the GaTe surface under ambient conditions strongly deteriorated the GaTe photodetector device performance. After removing the adsorbates in a ∼ 7 × 10(-5) torr vacuum, a flexible, fast response GaTe photodetector with a high photoresponse, high mechanical stability and an excellent linear input-output relationship was obtained. The results presented in this study suggest that the GaTe nanosheets grown by a CVD method are promising candidates for optoelectronic applications in the future.