Vertical Hierarchical Architecture of Niobium Diselenide Nanosheets Loaded ZnO Nanorods for High‐Performance Self‐Powered Broadband Photodetection

Abstract

Materials with low‐dimensional (1D–2D) structures hold significant promise for electronic and optoelectronic applications owing to their distinctive structural features and inherent properties. These characteristics render them of substantial interest across various scientific domains, particularly in applications related to energy storage, such as supercapacitors and lithium‐ion batteries. Due to their high surface‐to‐volume ratios and unique geometric properties, low‐dimensional materials have attracted considerable attention in developing advanced broadband photodetectors (PDs) with enhanced performance capabilities. In this study, for the first time, the study reports self‐powered broadband PDs based on vertical‐core‐shell niobium diselenide (NbSe2)‐ZnO nanorods (ZNRs), which are produced using a hydrothermal method. Remarkably, the NbSe2(3 ml) doped ZNRs‐based device exhibits outstanding responsivity of 0.62, 23.21, 5.35, 1.11, 0.30 AW−1, detectivity of 2.15 × 1010, 4.10 × 1011, 1.62 × 1011, 8.83 × 1010, 1.42 × 1011 Jones, and high sensitivity of 8.74 × 104%, 5.78 × 105%, 2.71 × 105%, 2.79 × 105%, 1.43 × 105% at wavelengths of 365, 456, 532, 632, and 850 nm, respectively, at zero bias. The NbSe2(3ml)‐ZNRs device showed a rapid response and fall times of 37 ms and 40 ms, enabled by NbSe2 superconductivity. The concept introduced in this study is strongly believed to possess significant potential and can be extensively applied in developing next‐generation integrated optoelectronic, clean energy technology, and photodetection devices based on 1D/2D nanostructures.