Large photo-induced voltage in a ferroelectric thin film with in-plane polarization

Abstract

A large photoinduced voltage of 7 V was obtained with an in-plane poled ferroelectric thin film having a composition of WO3 modified Pb0.97La0.03(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PLWZT), under ultraviolet (UV) illumination for about 80 s. By poling the ferroelectric film along the surface plane through pairs of interdigital electrodes, the interelectrode distance constraint on the voltage magnitude arising from the small film thickness was broken. Our experimental results showed that both the direction and magnitude of the photovoltaic output could be tuned with the poling electric field. The dependence of the photoinduced voltage on light wavelength, light intensity, and the gap of the interdigital electrode were investigated. The advantages of the photovoltaic configuration on the basis of an in-plane poled ferroelectric thin film were analyzed.

Photoconductivity and photo-detection response of multiferroic bismuth iron oxide

“…Recent studies revealed that limitations of semiconductor PE devices can be overcome in the ferroelectric semiconductor PE devices, which naturally possess built-in nano-scale p-n junctions of insulating domains and conducting domain walls. 7,8,15 Above bandgap open circuit voltages (OCV) have been shown in epitaxial BFO thin films utilizing the in-plane domains and domain walls. 4 Note that the basic mechanism of domain-wall PE effect is quite different than that of the bulk ferroelectrics (lack of inversion symmetry).…”

Study of strain effect on in-plane polarization in epitaxial BiFeO3thin films using planar electrodes

“…2,10 Furthermore, it is known that the determination of inplane polarization and exact polarization direction of ferroelectric ultrathin films under different strain states is important not only from the point of view of fundamental physics, but also from viewpoint of practical applications, such as ferroeletric photovoltaic device. 11,12 However, there are no systematic experiments on the determination of in-plane polarization components in epitaxial ferroelectric thin films under different strain states. This fact hinders a comprehensive understanding of the overall polarization vectors and projections on different axis in these complex ferroelectric oxides.…”

Storage of an electric field for photocurrent generation in ferroelectric-functionalized organic devices

“…Recent work 3 indicates that strong electric fields existing at ferroelectric domain walls (2 nm) can separate photo-induced charges in BiFeO 3 (ref. 4) with a low internal quantum efficiency (B10%), and the sawtooth-like potential developed inside the device is responsible for an above-band gap photovoltage [5][6][7] . In contrast, organic optoelectronic devices [8][9][10] , such as organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices [10][11][12] , which benefit from light weight, low cost, flexibility and a much higher internal quantum efficiency (close to 100%) 13 , suffer from a strong exciton binding energy.…”