Solution-grown ternary quasi-cube AgSbTe and its optoelectronic performance for broadband photodetection

Group I-V-VI 2 nanocrystals have been considered as potential candidates in the field of optoelectronics due to their highly tunable semiconductor characteristics. AgSbTe 2 , one of the emerging group I-V-VI 2 nanocrystals with optical phase-change properties, a high light absorption coefficient and wide spectral response, is attractive for eco-friendly photodetector devices. However, a colloidal synthetic route for obtaining highly crystalline AgSbTe 2 nanocrystals with low toxicity precursors, which is vital to high-performance solution-processed photodetector devices, is still rare. Herein, we investigate the colloidal synthesis of quasi-cube AgSbTe 2 nanocrystals from the reaction of commercially available AgNO 3 with Sb(Ph) 3 in oleylamine at 190 °C, followed by the injection of a tellurium source, which was prepared by directly dissolving TeO 2 in 1-dodecanethiol. Simple AgSbTe 2 /ITO heterostructure photodetectors were fabricated by a low-temperature colloidal synthetic route in combination with the spin-coating technique, which exhibit good photoresponse in a wide range from 405 to 980 nm with fast response times (0.49 and 0.58 s) and excellent stability. This work suggests that ternary silver-based I-V-VI 2 compound nanostructures have great potential for high-performance optoelectronic applications. Quasi-cube AgSbTe 2 nanocrystals with a representative NaCl-type crystal structure, synthesized by an eco-friendly colloidal synthetic route, exhibit good photoresponse to wide-range optical signals from 405 to 980 nm.