Ultrafast Photocarrier Dynamics in Vertically Aligned SnS₂ Nanoflakes Probing with Transient Terahertz Spectroscopy

By employing optical pump Terahertz (THz) probe spectroscopy, ultrafast photocarrier dynamics of a two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor, SnS₂ nanoflake film, has been investigated systematically at room temperature. The dynamics of photoexcitation is strongly related to the density of edge sites and defects in the SnS₂ nanoflakes, which is controllable by adjusting the height of vertically aligned SnS₂ during chemical vapor deposition growth. After photoexcitation at 400 nm, the transient THz photoconductivity response of the films can be well fitted with bi-exponential decay function. The fast and slow processes are shorter in the thinner film than in the thicker sample, and both components are independent on the pump fluence. Hereby, we propose that edge-site trapping as well as defect-assisted electron-hole recombination are responsible for the fast and slow decay progress, respectively. Our experimental results demonstrate that the edge sites and defects in SnS₂ nanoflakes play a dominant role in photocarrier relaxation, which is crucial in understanding the photoelectrochemical performance of SnS₂ nanoflakes.