Enhanced Flexible Vacuum-Ultraviolet Photodetectors Based on Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanosheets via Al Nanoparticles

This work reports an enhanced flexible vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) photodetector on a polyimide (PI) substrate based on hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) with Al nanoparticles (Al NPs). The BNNS film were prepared via liquid-phase exfoliation combined with a self-assembly process, and size-controllable Al NPs were constructed on the BNNS’s surface by electron-beam evaporation followed by thermal annealing. When the Al film thickness was 15 nm, the annealed Al NPs exhibited a pronounced enhancement of photoelectric effects at a wavelength of 185 nm. Combined with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, it was confirmed that the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) generated by Al NPs significantly enhanced the local electromagnetic field and effectively coupled into the interior of BNNSs. These exhibited a strong plasmon-enhanced absorption effect and thereby improved light absorption and carrier generation efficiency. The flexible photodetector based on this structure showed an increase in the photo-to-dark current ratio from 110.17 to 527.79 under a bias voltage of 20 V, while maintaining fast response and recovery times of 79.79 ms and 82.38 ms, respectively. In addition, the device demonstrated good stability under multiple bending angles and cyclic bending conditions, highlighting its potential applications in flexible solar-blind VUV photo ultraviolet.