Researchers from China's Jilin University have demonstrated significant progress in non-contact heart rate detection by leveraging the properties of perovskite (MAPbI₃) nanowire photodetectors. While nanowire photodetectors typically benefit from surface state effects, their performance is often constrained by the intrinsic material characteristics that define surface state distribution and charge-trapping capability.
This study presents an approach to overcome these limitations through targeted surface state engineering using C60 molecules. By integrating C60 with MAPbI₃ nanowires, electron depletion zones are established, which in turn reduce noise current by 74% and enhance photoresponse by a factor of three. The resulting device achieves a specific detectivity of 6.7×1014 Jones, marking the highest reported performance for MAPbI₃ nanowire-based photodetectors to date.
This advancement could enable highly sensitive non-contact heart rate monitoring, reliably detecting pulse wave signals and surpassing the performance of conventional silicon photodetectors under similar conditions. These findings highlight the potential of surface state engineering in perovskite nanowires for health monitoring applications and provide a framework for further optimization of photodetector technologies in biomedical contexts.
