Bulk photovoltaic effect and high mobility in the polar 2D semiconductor SnP₂Se₆

The growth of layered 2D compounds is a key ingredient in finding new phenomena in quantum materials, optoelectronics, and energy conversion. Here, we report SnP₂Se₆, a van der Waals chiral (R3 space group) semiconductor with an indirect bandgap of 1.36 to 1.41 electron volts. Exfoliated SnP₂Se₆ flakes are integrated into high-performance field-effect transistors with electron mobilities >100 cm²/Vs and on/off ratios >10⁶ at room temperature. Upon excitation at a wavelength of 515.6 nanometer, SnP₂Se₆ phototransistors show high gain (>4 × 10⁴) at low intensity (≈10^-6 W/cm²) and fast photoresponse (< 5 microsecond) with concurrent gain of ≈52.9 at high intensity (≈56.6 mW/cm²) at a gate voltage of 60 V across 300-nm-thick SiO₂ dielectric layer. The combination of high carrier mobility and the non-centrosymmetric crystal structure results in a strong intrinsic bulk photovoltaic effect; under local excitation at normal incidence at 532 nm, short circuit currents exceed 8 mA/cm² at 20.6 W/cm².