LAUSR

Out-of-plane p-n heterojunctions based on two-dimensional layered materials (2DLMs) with unusual physical characteristics are attracting extensive research attention for their application as photodetectors. However, the present fabrication method based on 2DLMs produces out-of-plane p-n homojunction devices with low photoresponsivity and detectivity. This work reports an ultrasensitive phototransistor based on a laser-induced p-doped WSe2/MoS2 van der Waals heterojunction. The laser treatment is used for p-doping WSe2 nanoflakes using high work function WOx. Then, an n-type MoS2 nanoflake is transferred onto the resulting p-doped WSe2 nanoflake. The built-in electric field of p-doped WSe2/MoS2 is stronger than that of pristine WSe2/MoS2. The p-n junction between p-doped WSe2 and MoS2 can separate more photogenerated electron–hole pairs and inject more electrons into MoS2 under laser illumination than pristine WSe2/MoS2. Thus, a high photoresponsivity (R) of ~1.28 × 105 A·W−1 and high specific detectivity (D*) of ~7.17 × 1013 Jones are achieved under the illumination of a 633 nm laser, which is approximately two orders higher than the best phototransistor based on a WSe2/MoS2 heterojunction. Our work provides an effective and simple method to enhance photoresponsivity and detectivity in two-dimensional (2D) heterojunction phototransistors, indicating the potential applications in fabricating high-performance photodetectors based on 2DLMs.