Hexagonal single crystal nanosheets of Nd³⁺ doped PbI₂ were effortlessly synthesized via microwave-assisted technique under a power of 700 W and in a duration of 15 minutes with a homogeneous morphology. X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope, scanning electron microscope, FT-Raman, UV-Visible, photoluminescence and dielectric measurement were employed to study the product. High purity, single phase and presence of Nd³⁺ doping was confirmed. SEM study confirm the formation of nanorods and single crystal nanosheets of very few nanometers in size. Robust vibrational analysis has been carried out and the observed bands are assigned to the vibration modes of E₂¹, A₁¹, A₁², 2E₂¹ and 2E₁¹, respectively. These bands are red-shifted when compare to the corresponding bulk values which indicate relaxed nanostructure formation and occurrence of confinement effect. The thickness of the synthesized single crystal nanosheets are found to be in the range of ~20 to 30 nm. The energy band gap was calculated and found to be 3.35, 3.34, 3.42 and 3.39 eV for pure, 1, 3 and 5% Nd³⁺ doped lead iodide, respectively. The clear blue luminescence has been observed at 440 nm and 466 nm when excited at 250 nm and 280 nm respectively. Dielectric and ac electrical conductivity was also measured and discussed.

Herein, the optoelectrical investigation of cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) and indium (In) doped CZT (InCZT) single crystals-based photodetectors have been demonstrated. The grown crystals were configured into photodetector devices and recorded the current-voltage (I-V) and current-time (I-t) characteristics under different illumination intensities. It has been observed that the photocurrent generation mechanism in both photodetector devices is dominantly driven by a photogating effect. The CZT photodetector exhibits stable and reversible device performances to 632 nm light, including a promotable responsivity of 0.38 AW⁻¹, a high photoswitch ratio of 152, specific detectivity of 6.30 × 10¹¹ Jones, and fast switching time (rise time of 210 ms and decay time of 150 ms). When doped with In, the responsivity of device increases to 0.50 AW⁻¹, photoswitch ratio decrease to 10, specific detectivity decrease to 1.80 × 10¹¹ Jones, rise time decrease to 140 ms and decay time increase to 200 ms. Moreover, these devices show a very high external quantum efficiency of 200% for CZT and 250% for InCZT. These results demonstrate that the CZT based crystals have great potential for visible light photodetector applications.

This research communication presents a rapid and facile microwave-assisted synthesis of single crystalline nanosheets (SCNSs) of hexagonal lead iodide (PbI₂) decorated with Au nanoparticles, a potential optoelectronics material. Homogeneous low dimensional AuNP decoration in PbI₂ resulted in a new absorption band at ~604 nm and a shift in band gap from 3.23 to 3.00 eV. The significant enhancement of photoluminescent (PL) intensity observed in the AuNP-PbI₂ SCNSs is attributed to the coupling of the localized surface plasmon resonanzce of AuNP leading to improved excitation and emission rates of PbI₂-SCNSs in the region of the localized electromagnetic field. The Au-PbI₂ SCNSs display a compelling increment in photoconductivity, and its fabricated photodetector showed a stable and switchable photo-response. Due to ease of synthesis and enhanced photoconductivity along with appealing PL features, Au-PbI₂ SCNS has the potential to be used as a material of choice when fabricating an optoelectronic devices of high performance.