Graphene-Perovskite Fibre Photodetectors

The integration of optoelectronic devices, such as transistors and photodetectors (PDs), into wearables and textiles is of great interest for applications such as healthcare and physiological monitoring. These require flexible/wearable systems adaptable to body motions, thus materials conformable to non-planar surfaces, and able to maintain performance under mechanical distortions. Here, fibre PDs are prepared by combining rolled graphene layers and photoactive perovskites. Conductive fibres (~500 Ωcm^-1) are made by rolling single-layer graphene (SLG) around silica fibres, followed by deposition of a dielectric layer (Al₂O₃ and parylene C), another rolled SLG as a channel, and perovskite as photoactive component. The resulting gate-tunable PD has a response time~9ms, with an external responsivity~22kAW^-1 at 488nm for a 1V bias. The external responsivity is two orders of magnitude higher, and the response time one order of magnitude faster, than state-of-the-art wearable fibre-based PDs. Under bending at 4mm radius, up to~80% photocurrent is maintained. Washability tests show~72% of initial photocurrent after 30 cycles, promising for wearable applications.