Despite the continued research, it is still not entirely clear how important characteristics of metalloporphyrins are exploited for optoelectronic applications. Consequently, the stimulant aim for this work is to design and implement organic/inorganic heterojunctions based on metalloporphyrins (CuTPP, NiTPP, FeTPPCl, and MnTPPCl)/n-Si and evolve their photodetection performance. To evaluate the performance variation of variously manufactured photodetectors, structural characterizations using XRD, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and AFM are combined with optical absorption and photoluminescence. Core level emissions are used to unveil the deposited films’ electronic and structural features. The estimated energy gap values are found to be 2.4, 2.53, 2.49, and 2.43 eV for CuTPP. NiTPP. FeTPPCl, and MnTPPCl, respectively. The fabricated devices’ PL-spectra are analyzed, where CuTPP exhibited the lowest value of excitonic binding energy. The photodetection performance is evaluated via the J–V relation under dark and various radiant illumination power. The microelectronic parameters of the manufactured heterojunctions are estimated. Ultimately, the photodetectors' figures of merit are estimated for all the fabricated devices, where CuTPP/n-Si heterojunction achieved the best performance and highest values of R = 11.95 mA/W, D* = 8.7 × 109 Jones, LDR = 46.18 dB, SNR = 203.4, and trise/tfall = 51.32/54.29 ms. Consequently, MTPP-based photoreceptors would play an active role as a powerful tool for light detection soon.
Graphical abstract