Transport at Nanoscale Interfaces Laboratory

Jul 8, 2025 – Congrats Yanis & Silvio!

Well done to Yanis Strübi and Silvio Müller on completing your Physics Lab Technician apprenticeships and earning the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate! We’re proud of you and wish you all the best for what’s next.


Graphene - Quantum Dot Photodetectors

Combining high mobility graphene transistors with efficient light absorbing colloidal quantum dots may pave a way for cheap, high resolving infrared photodetectors. Light is absorbed in the Quantum Dot layer, creating excitons. One charge carrier type is transferred faster to the biased graphene transistor, leading to an additional electric field. This is measured by a current change in the graphene transistor. We are investigating the detailed mechanism of these graphene-QDs photodetectors, expanding the range of spectral photoresponse, increasing the detectivity, and scalling down to the device size below the light wavelength.

 

Further sources:

 

L. J. A. Ferraresi, G. Kara, N. A. Burnham, R. Furrer, D. N. Dirin, F. La Mattina, M. V. Kovalenko, M. Calame, I. Shorubalko "AFM-IR of Electrohydrodynamically Printed PbS Quantum Dots: Quantifying Ligand Exchange at the Nanoscale", Nano Letters, 2024, 24, 35, 10908-10914

G. Kara, P.Rohner, E. Wu, D. N. Dirin, R. Furrer, D. Poulikakos, M. V. Kovalenko, M. Calame, I. Shorubalko "Scaling of Hybrid QDs-Graphene Photodetectors to Subwavelength Dimensions", ACS Photonics, 2024, 11, 2194-2205

G. Kara, S. Bolat, K. Sharma, M. J. Grotevent, D. N. Dirin, D. Bachmann, R. Furrer, L. F. Boesel, Y. E. Romanyuk, R. M. Rossi, M. V. Kovalenko, M. Calame, I. Shorubalko "Conformal Integration of an Inkjet-Printed PbS QDs-Graphene IR Photodetector on a Polymer Optical Fiber", Advanced Materials Technologies, 2023, 2201922

M. J. Grotevent, S. Yakunin, D. Bachmann, C. Romero, J. R. Vázquez de Aldana, M. Madi, M. Calame, M. V. Kovalenko, I. Shorubalko "Integrated photodetectors for compact Fourier-transform waveguide spectrometers", Nature Photonics, 17, 59-64 (2023)
  M. J. Grotevent "Nanoprinted Quantum DOT/Graphene Infrared Photodetectors, and their Temperature-Dependent Mechanism of Charge Carrier Transfer", PhD Thesis, ETH Zurich, 2020

M. J. Grotevent, C. U. Hail, S. Yakunin, D. N. Dirin, K. Thodkar, G. B. Barin, P. Guyot-Sionnest, M. Calame, D. Poulikakos, M. V. Kovalenko, I. Shorubalko "Nanoprinted Quantum Dot–Graphene Photodetectors", Adv. Optical Mater. 2019, 1900019

M. J. Grotevent, C. U. Hail, S. Yakunin, D. Bachmann, G. Kara, D. N. Dirin, M. Calame, D. Poulikakos, M. V. Kovalenko, and I. Shorubalko "Temperature-Dependent Charge Carrier Transfer in Colloidal Quantum Dot/Graphene Infrared Photodetectors", ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021, 13, 1, 848–856

M. J. Grotevent, C. U. Hail, S. Yakunin, D. Bachmann, M. Calame, D. Poulikakos, M. V. Kovalenko, I. Shorubalko "Colloidal HgTe Quantum Dot/Graphene Phototransistor with a Spectral Sensitivity Beyond 3 µm", Adv. Sci. 2021, 202003360

 


Advanced Perovskite Photodetectors

The project aims to develop a conceptually new type of photodetector arrays based on perovskite materials for the next generation of imaging cameras. The research activities involve synthesis (thermal co-evaporation) and deposition (for solution-based materials) in the form of thin films. The activities also will include pattering, contact and charge selective/blocking layers deposition, and comprehensive characterization of the device`s optoelectronic properties. Research considers strong collaboration with industrial partners.

 

Collaboration with:

Kovalenko Lab - Functional Inorganic Materials, ETH Zurich

 

Further sources:

Erfu Wu, Sergey Tsarev, Daria Proniakova, Xuqi Liu, Dominik Bachmann, Sergii Yakunin, Maksym V. Kovalenko & Ivan Shorubalko "A CMOS-Compatible Fabrication Approach for High-Performance Perovskite Photodetector Arrays", Advanced Optical Materials 2402979 (2025)

Sergey Tsarev, Daria Proniakova, Xuqi Liu, Erfu Wu, Gebhard J. Matt, Kostiantyn Sakhatskyi, Lorenzo L. A. Ferraresi, Radha Kothandaraman, Fan Fu, Ivan Shorubalko, Sergii Yakunin & Maksym V. Kovalenko "Vertically stacked monolithic perovskite colour photodetectors", Nature 642, 592–598 (2025)

K. Sakhatskyi, B. Turedi, G. J. Matt, E. Wu, A. Sakhatska, V. Bartosh, M. N. Lintangpradipto, R. Naphade, I. Shorubalko, O. F. Mohammed, S. Yakunin, O. M. Bakr & M. V. Kovalenko "Stable perovskite single-crystal X-ray imaging detectors with single-photon sensitivity", Nature Photonics 17, 510–517 (2023)

Jun 20, 2025 Congratulations to Erfu!

Congratulations to Dr. Erfu Wu on successfully defending his PhD thesis on "Arrays of perovskite microphotodetectors for stacked color image sensors"!