Work function engineering of MXene contacts for high-performance, self-powered AlGaN solar-blind photodetectors

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/ae617d

Abstract AlGaN-based solar-blind UV photodetectors are crucial for critical applications but suffer from Fermi-level pinning that leads to high dark current. Constructing a high-barrier heterojunction interface effectively suppresses dark current, yet controlling the AlGaN/two-dimensional material barrier via work function modulation remains challenging. Here, we tailor the work function of MXene (3.7-4.6 eV) through surface oxidation to fabricate self-powered MXene/AlGaN van der Waals photodetectors. By alleviating Fermi-level pinning and forming a deep-depletion barrier, the device exhibits a suppression of dark current by nearly four orders of magnitude at 0 V (10$^{-14}$ A regime). Consequently, the device achieves a high responsivity of 15 mA/W and a specific detectivity of 2$\times10^{11}$ Jones at 280 nm, accompanied by a rapid response time of 0.66 ms. This work validates work function engineering as a potent strategy for optimizing interface energetics and boosting the performance of wide-bandgap optoelectronics.

Keywords: AlGaN MXene solar-blind photodetector work function engineering van der Waals heterojunction

Received: 16 March 2026
Revised: 05 April 2026
Accepted manuscript online: 20 April 2026

PACS:	85.60.Gz	(Photodetectors (including infrared and CCD detectors))
	73.61.Ey	(III-V semiconductors)
	73.22.-f	(Electronic structure of nanoscale materials and related systems)
	73.30.+y	(Surface double layers, Schottky barriers, and work functions)

Fund: This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2023YFB3609800), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 62304244), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2025M780550), Frontier Technologies R&D Program of Jiangsu (Grant No. BF2025032), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu (Grant No. BK20230235), the Suzhou Key Core Technology Project: Leading the Charge with Open Competition (Grant No. SYG2024104), the Welfare Applied Research Project of Huzhou (Grant No. 2025GY009), and the “Eagle Fund” Student Original Research Project of the USTC (Grant No. XY2025G002). We are grateful to the technical support from Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Nanofabrication Facility (SNFF), and Platform for Characterization & Test from Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Corresponding Authors: Wenxian Yang, Shan Jin, Min Jiang
E-mail: wxyang2014@sinano.ac.cn;sjin2017@sinano.ac.cn;mjiang2020@sinano.ac.cn

Cite this article:

Pan Dai(代盼), Dengshan Cai(蔡登山), Wenxian Yang(杨文献), Ying Gu(顾颖), Haowen Hua(华浩文), Mengyang Huang(黄梦洋), Peng Zhang(张鹏), Xueyan Feng(冯雪雁), Sijia Wei(魏思嘉), Zheng Zhong(钟政), Yi Gong(龚毅), Jianjun Zhu(朱建军), Shan Jin(金山), Shulong Lu(陆书龙), and Min Jiang(蒋敏) Work function engineering of MXene contacts for high-performance, self-powered AlGaN solar-blind photodetectors 2026 Chin. Phys. B 35 068503

[1] Monroy E, Calle F, Pau J L, Muñoz E, Omnès F, Beaumont B and Gibart P 2001 J. Cryst. Growth 230 537
[2] Cai Q, You H, Guo H, Wang J, Liu B, Xie Z, Chen D, Lu H, Zheng Y and Zhang R 2021 Light-Sci. Appl. 10 94
[3] Hou X, Li C, Chen C, Bai S, liu Y, Peng Z, Zhao X, Zhou X, Xu G, Gao N and Long S 2025 Adv. Mater. 37 2506179
[4] Zou Y, Liu Y, Zhao X, Wang Y, Xin Y, Zhan H, Feng X, Yu S, DingW, Fu Z, Hou X and Long S 2025 ACS Nano 19 30823
[5] Huan Z, Lv Q, Yu M, Li R, Huang Z, Liu G, Qiao G and Liu J 2024 Sens. Actuator A-Phys. 370 115254
[6] Maraj M, Li Y Z and Sun W H 2025 J. Lumin. 281 121178
[7] Sun X, Wang D, Wu X, Zhang J, Lin Y, Luo D, Li F, Zhang H, Chen W, Liu X, Kang Y, Yu H, Luo Y, Ge B and Sun H 2024 Sci. Bull. 69 3692
[8] Abutawahina M S M, Mohammed A A A, Hamzah N A, Ng S S, Quah H J, Ahmed N M and Shaveisi M 2024 Sens. Actuator A-Phys. 380 116058
[9] Kim Y J, Kumar M R, Kumar G M and Kim M 2023 Appl. Phys. Lett. 123 252111
[10] Ozbey D H, Sargin G O, Ongun Ozcelik V and Durgun E 2025 J. Appl. Phys. 138 084304
[11] Zheng G, Zhang R, Wang Y, Hou Q, Li M, Xiao K, Deng J and Sun W 2023 Micro Nanostructures 184 207680
[12] Wang Y L, Wu W T,Han K J, Zhan H Y, Huang S Y, Tong P W, Zhao X L,Liu J L, Feng X, Hou X H,Huang H, Wang W, Xu G W, Zhou X Z and Long S B 2025 IEEE IEDM.
[13] Wang Z, Han K, Huang H, Zhao X, Zhan H, Hou X, Feng X, Zhou X, Xu G, Zhang F and Long S 2024 Adv. Funct. Mater. 34 2400498
[14] Sun G, Li W, Wan P, Xu T, Zhai Y, Luan C, Zhou Y, Kan C, Shi D and Jiang M 2025 Appl. Phys. Lett. 127 011101
[15] Yue Y, Chen Y, Jiang J, Wang H, Zhang S, Jia Y, Jiang K, Sun X and Li D 2024 Photon. Res. 12 1858
[16] Hart J L, Hantanasirisakul K, Lang A C, Anasori B, Pinto D, Pivak Y, van Omme J T, May S J, Gogotsi Y and TaheriML 2019 Nat. Commun. 10 522
[17] Schultz T, Frey N C, Hantanasirisakul K, Park S, May S J, Shenoy V B, Gogotsi Y and Koch N 2019 Chem. Mater. 31 6590
[18] Ahn S, Han T H, Maleski K, Song J, Kim Y H, ParkMH, Zhou H, Yoo S, Gogotsi Y and Lee T W 2020 Adv. Mater. 32 2000919
[19] Bai L N, Kong L Y, Wen J, Ma N, Gao H and Zhang X T 2020 Chin. Phys. B 29 016802
[20] Li L H, He Y X, Lin T J, Jiang H S, Li Y, Lin T T, Zhou C J, Li G Q and Wang W L 2024 Appl. Phys. Lett. 124 132105
[21] Yü J, Zhang Y, Wang L, Yang X, Yang Y, Jiang K, Lü W and Sun X 2024 Ionics 30 1785
[22] Montazeri K, Currie M, Verger L, Dianat P, Barsoum M W and Nabet B 2019 Adv. Mater. 31 1903271
[23] Ding Y, Xu X M, Zhuang Z, Sang Y M, Cui M, Li W X, Yan Y, Tao T, Xu W Z, Ren F F, Ye J D, Chen D J, Lu H, Zhang R, Alshareef H N and Liu B 2024 Appl. Phys. Rev. 11 041413
[24] Kong D Q, Lin T T, Chai J X, Zhu Z H, Liu P X, Lin Z L, Lin T J, Li L H, Chen L, Li G Q and Wang W L 2023 Appl. Phys. Lett. 122 142104
[25] Luo L Z, Huang Y X, Cheng K M, Alhassan A, Alqahtani M, Tang L B, Wang Z M and Wu J 2021 Light-Sci. Appl. 10 177
[26] Song W, Chen J, Li Z and Fang X 2021 Adv. Mater. 33 2101059
[27] Yi C J, Chen Y B, Kang Z, Ma Y A, Yue Y, Liu W J, Zhu M and Gao Y H 2021 Adv. Electron. Mater. 7 2000955
[28] Ayodhya D 2023 Diam. Relat. Mat. 132 109634
[29] Roy P, Rekhi L, Koh S W, Li H and Choksi T S 2023 J. Phys-Energy. 5 034005
[30] Wang Q,Wang T, Pu T, Cheng S, Li X, Li L and Ao J 2022 Chin. Phys. B 31 057702
[31] Chang Q, Hou B, Yang L, Wu M, Zhang M, Lu H, Jia F, Niu X, Shi C, Du J, Jia M, Yu Q, Li S, Zhu Y, Ma X and Hao Y 2024 Sci. China-Inf. Sci. 67 229402
[32] Liu Y Y, Strandins P and Wei S H 2016 Sci. Adv. 2 1600069
[33] Zhang X W, Shao J H, Yan C X, Wang X M, Wang Y F, Lu Z H, Qin R J, Huang XW, Tian J L and Zeng L H 2021 Mater. Design. 207 109850
[34] Wang C J, Xu X M, Tyagi S, Rout P C, Schwingenschlögl U, Sarkar B, Khandelwal V, Liu X K, Gao L F, Hedhili M N, Alshareef H N and Li X H 2023 Adv. Mater. 35 2211738
[35] Wu Y H, Lou J C, Zhang J, He Z C, Lan Y, Huang G F, Hu W Y and Huang W Q 2023 Res. Phys. 54 107047
[36] Liu Y Y, Xiao H and GoddardWA 2016 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 138 15853
[37] Agresti A, Pazniak A, Pescetelli S, Di Vito A, Rossi D, Pecchia A, Auf der Maur M, Liedl A, Larciprete R, Kuznetsov D V, Saranin D and Di Carlo A 2019 Nat. Mater. 18 1228
[38] Purbayanto M A K, Chandel M, Birowska M, Rosenkranz A and Jastrzebska A M 2023 Adv. Mater. 35 2301850
[39] Alhabeb M, Maleski K, Anasori B, Lelyukh P, Clark L, Sin S and Gogotsi Y 2017 Chem. Mater. 29 7633
[40] Naguib M, Mashtalir O, Carle J, Presser V, Lu J, Hultman L, Gogotsi Y and Barsoum M W 2012 ACS Nano. 6 1322
[41] Naguib M, Mochalin V N, Barsoum M W and Gogotsi Y 2014 Adv. Mater. 26 992
[42] Halim J, Cook K M, Naguib M, Eklund P, Gogotsi Y, Rosen J and Barsoum M W 2016 Appl. Surf. Sci. 362 406
[43] Näslund L ° A, Persson P O °A and Rosen J 2020 Phys. Chem. C 124 27732
[44] Yang L L, Peng Y S, Liu Z, Zhang M L, Guo Y F, Yang Y and Tang W H 2023 Chin. Phys. B 32 047301
[45] Jiang C, Lu H, Chen D J, Ren F F, Zhang R and Zheng Y D 2014 Chin. Phys. B 23 097308
[46] Liu Z, Du L, Zhang S H, Li L, Xi Z Y, Tang J C, Fang J P, Zhang M L, Yang L L, Li S, Li P G, Guo Y F and Tang W H 2022 IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 69 5595
[47] Prasad C V, Labed M, Park J H, Kim K J and Rim Y S 2024 Mater. Today Phys. 40 101327
[48] He Y, Li L, Chen J, Wang Y, Li G and Wang W 2024 Appl. Phys. Lett. 125 122101
[49] Wu Y, Sun X, Shi Z, Jia Y, Jiang K, Ben J, Kai C, Wang Y, Lü W and Li D 2020 Nanoscale Adv. 2 1854
[50] Kumar M, Jeong H, Polat K, Okyay A K and Lee D 2016 J. Phys. D-Appl. Phys. 49 275105
[51] Tian Y, Hou P, Zhang H, Xie Y, Chen G, Li Q, Du F, Vojvodic A, Wu J and Meng X 2024 Nat. Commun. 15 10099
[52] Stratulat A M, Nesterova V, Korostelev V, Beidaghi M, Mochalin V and Klyukin K 2025 ACS Nano 19 36994
[53] Huang S and Mochalin V N 2020 ACS Nano 14 10251

[1]	An enhanced MXene/LIG composite structure-based flexible sensor for real-time pilot motion monitoring Mian Zhong(钟勉), Hongyun Fan(范红云), Zhanghui Wu(吴章辉), Xiaoqing Xing(邢晓晴), Yilin Zhao(赵一霖), Lin Li(李麟), Yong Jiang(蒋勇), Qinglei Li(李庆磊), Kaixin Xu(徐开心), Kun Luo(罗鲲), Guogang Ren(任国刚), and Jie Wu(吴杰). Chin. Phys. B, 2026, 35(5): 058102.
[2]	Impact of epitaxial structural parameters on two-dimensional hole gas properties in p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN heterostructures Fuzhou Wen(文福洲), Qianshu Wu(吴千树), Jinwei Zhang(张津玮), Zhuoran Luo(罗卓然), Senyuan Xu(许森源), Hao Jiang(江灏), and Yang Liu(刘扬). Chin. Phys. B, 2025, 34(7): 077105.
[3]	Band alignment of heterojunctions formed by PtSe₂ with doped GaN Zhuoyang Lv(吕卓阳), Guijuan Zhao(赵桂娟), Wanting Wei(魏婉婷), Xiurui Lv(吕秀睿), and Guipeng Liu(刘贵鹏). Chin. Phys. B, 2025, 34(4): 047304.
[4]	Impact of p-GaN thickness on the transport properties of two-dimensional hole gases in a GaN/AlGaN/GaN heterostructure Pengfei Shao(邵鹏飞), Yifan Cheng (成毅凡), Yu Liu(柳裕), Qi Yao(姚齐), Zanjiang Qiao(乔赞江), Yanghu Peng (彭扬虎), Qin Cai(蔡青), Tao Tao(陶涛), Zili Xie(谢自力), Dunjun Chen(陈敦军), Bin Liu(刘斌), Rong Zhang(张荣), and Ke Wang(王科). Chin. Phys. B, 2025, 34(11): 117301.
[5]	Molecular beam epitaxial growth and physical properties of AlN/GaN superlattices with an average 50% Al composition Siqi Li(李思琦), Pengfei Shao(邵鹏飞), Xiao Liang(梁潇), Songlin Chen(陈松林), Zhenhua Li(李振华), Xujun Su(苏旭军), Tao Tao(陶涛), Zili Xie(谢自力), Bin Liu(刘斌), M. Ajmal Khan, Li Wang, T. T. Lin, Hideki Hirayama, Rong Zhang(张荣), and Ke Wang(王科). Chin. Phys. B, 2024, 33(12): 126801.
[6]	Novel double channel reverse conducting GaN HEMT with an integrated MOS-channel diode Xintong Xie(谢欣桐), Cheng Zhang(张成), Zhijia Zhao(赵智家), Jie Wei(魏杰),Xiaorong Luo(罗小蓉), and Bo Zhang(张波). Chin. Phys. B, 2023, 32(9): 098506.
[7]	Proton irradiation-induced dynamic characteristics on high performance GaN/AlGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes Tao Zhang(张涛), Ruo-Han Li(李若晗), Kai Su(苏凯), Hua-Ke Su(苏华科), Yue-Guang Lv(吕跃广), Sheng-Rui Xu(许晟瑞), Jin-Cheng Zhang(张进成), and Yue Hao(郝跃). Chin. Phys. B, 2023, 32(8): 087301.
[8]	Realization of high-efficiency AlGaN deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes with polarization-induced doping of the p-AlGaN hole injection layer Yi-Wei Cao(曹一伟), Quan-Jiang Lv(吕全江), Tian-Peng Yang(杨天鹏), Ting-Ting Mi(米亭亭),Xiao-Wen Wang(王小文), Wei Liu(刘伟), and Jun-Lin Liu(刘军林). Chin. Phys. B, 2023, 32(5): 058503.
[9]	Reverse gate leakage mechanism of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with Au-free gate Xin Jiang(蒋鑫), Chen-Hao Li(李晨浩), Shuo-Xiong Yang(羊硕雄), Jia-Hao Liang(梁家豪), Long-Kun Lai(来龙坤), Qing-Yang Dong(董青杨), Wei Huang(黄威),Xin-Yu Liu(刘新宇), and Wei-Jun Luo(罗卫军). Chin. Phys. B, 2023, 32(3): 037201.
[10]	High-performance artificial neurons based on Ag/MXene/GST/Pt threshold switching memristors Xiao-Juan Lian(连晓娟), Jin-Ke Fu(付金科), Zhi-Xuan Gao(高志瑄),Shi-Pu Gu(顾世浦), and Lei Wang(王磊). Chin. Phys. B, 2023, 32(1): 017304.
[11]	Effect of surface plasmon coupling with radiating dipole on the polarization characteristics of AlGaN-based light-emitting diodes Yi Li(李毅), Mei Ge(葛梅), Meiyu Wang(王美玉), Youhua Zhu(朱友华), and Xinglong Guo(郭兴龙). Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(7): 077801.
[12]	Simulation design of normally-off AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors with p-GaN Schottky hybrid gate Yun-Long He(何云龙), Fang Zhang(张方), Kai Liu(刘凯), Yue-Hua Hong(洪悦华), Xue-Feng Zheng(郑雪峰),Chong Wang(王冲), Xiao-Hua Ma(马晓华), and Yue Hao(郝跃). Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(6): 068501.
[13]	Improved device performance of recessed-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by using in-situ N₂O radical treatment Xinchuang Zhang(张新创), Mei Wu(武玫), Bin Hou(侯斌), Xuerui Niu(牛雪锐), Hao Lu(芦浩), Fuchun Jia(贾富春), Meng Zhang(张濛), Jiale Du(杜佳乐), Ling Yang(杨凌), Xiaohua Ma(马晓华), and Yue Hao(郝跃). Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(5): 057301.
[14]	Current oscillation in GaN-HEMTs with p-GaN islands buried layer for terahertz applications Wen-Lu Yang(杨文璐), Lin-An Yang(杨林安), Fei-Xiang Shen(申飞翔), Hao Zou(邹浩), Yang Li(李杨), Xiao-Hua Ma(马晓华), and Yue Hao(郝跃). Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(5): 058505.
[15]	First principles study on geometric and electronic properties of two-dimensional Nb₂CT_x MXenes Guoliang Xu(徐国亮), Jing Wang(王晶), Xilin Zhang(张喜林), and Zongxian Yang(杨宗献). Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(3): 037304.

No Suggested Reading articles found!

Viewed

Full text

Abstract

Cited

Metrics
Related Articles

Work function engineering of MXene contacts for high-performance, self-powered AlGaN solar-blind photodetectors

Cite this article:

Online attention