Improved photovoltaic effects in Mn-doped BiFeO3 ferroelectric thin films through band gap engineering

As a low-bandgap ferroelectric material, BiFeO3 has gained wide attention for the potential photovoltaic applications,since its photovoltaic effect in visible light range was reported in 2009. In the present work, Bi（Fe, Mn）O3thin films are fabricated by pulsed laser deposition method, and the effects of Mn doping on the microstructure, optical, leakage,ferroelectric and photovoltaic characteristics of Bi（Fe, Mn）O3 thin films are systematically investigated. The x-ray diffraction data indicate that Bi（Fe, Mn）O3 thin films each have a rhombohedrally distorted perovskite structure. From the light absorption results, it follows that the band gap of Bi（Fe, Mn）O3 thin films can be tuned by doping different amounts of Mn content. More importantly, photovoltaic measurement demonstrates that the short-circuit photocurrent density and the open-circuit voltage can both be remarkably improved through doping an appropriate amount of Mn content, leading to the fascinating fact that the maximum power output of ITO/BiFe（0.7）Mn（0.3）O3/Nb-STO capacitor is about 175 times higher than that of ITO/BiFeO3/Nb-STO capacitor. The improvement of photovoltaic response in Bi（Fe, Mn）O3 thin film can be reasonably explained as being due to absorbing more visible light through bandgap engineering and maintaining the ferroelectric property at the same time.

On Microscopic Origin of Photovoltaic Effect in La_(0.8)Sr_ (0.2)MnO_3 Films

The anomalous photovohaic effect was studied in epitaxial La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 films by laser molecular beam epitaxy. It is demonstrated that the signal polarity is reversed when the films are irradiated through the substrate rather than the film. Electron microdiffration and high-resolution imaging reveal that La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 thin film is epitaxially grown on the substrate, and the oriented microdomains run through the thickness of film, forming a columnar structure. Detailed investigations of the distribution of electric potential in the film surface with respect to the location of laser spot suggest that the anomalous photovoltaic response is due to an asymmetry of oriented microdomains in thin film. Under ultraviolet laser irradiation, the electron-hole pairs are excited in the manganese oxide film. The asymmetry of microdomains generates a built-in electric field and induces an asymmetric transport of the excited carriers, and hence a a photo voltage signal is obtained.

Photovoltaic effects in reconfigurable heterostructured black phosphorus transistors

We demonstrate a reconfigurable black phosphorus electrical field transistor,which is van der Waals heterostructured with few-layer graphene and hexagonal boron nitride flakes.Varied homojunctions could be realized by controlling both source–drain and top-gate voltages.With the spatially resolved scanning photocurrent microscopy technique,photovoltaic photocurrents originated from the band-bending regions are observed,confirming nine different configurations for each set of fixed voltages.In addition,as a phototransistor,high responsivity(～800 mA/W)and fast response speed(～230μs)are obtained from the device.The reconfigurable van der Waals heterostructured transistors may offer a promising structure towards electrically tunable black phosphorus-based optoelectronic devices.

Photoemission cross section：A critical parameter in the impurity photovoltaic effect

A numerical study has been conducted to explore the role of photoemission cross sections in the impurity photovoltaic（IPV） effect for silicon solar cells doped with indium. The photovoltaic parameters（short-circuit current density, opencircuit voltage, and conversion efficiency） of the IPV solar cell were calculated as functions of variable electron and hole photoemission cross sections. The presented results show that the electron and hole photoemission cross sections play critical roles in the IPV effect. When the electron photoemission cross section is 10^-20cm^2, the conversion efficiencyη of the IPV cell always has a negative gain（△η 0） if the IPV impurity is introduced. A large hole photoemission cross section can adversely impact IPV solar cell performance. The combination of a small hole photoemission cross section and a large electron photoemission cross section can achieve higher conversion efficiency for the IPV solar cell since a large electron photoemission cross section can enhance the necessary electron transition from the impurity level to the conduction band and a small hole photoemission cross section can reduce the needless sub-bandgap absorption. It is concluded that those impurities with small（large） hole photoemission cross section and large（small） electron photoemission cross section,whose energy levels are near the valence（or conduction） band edge, may be suitable for use in IPV solar cells. These results may help in judging whether or not an impurity is appropriate for use in IPV solar cells according to its electron and hole photoemission cross sections.

Infrared laser-induced fast photovoltaic effect observed in orthorhombic tin oxide film

The SnO_2/SnO with an orthorhombic structure is a material known to be stable at high pressures and temperatures and expected to have new optical and electrical properties. The authors report a new finding of the infrared laser induced a fast photovoltaic effect arising from orthorhombic tin oxide film with an indirect band gap（~2.4 e V） which is deposited by pulsed laser deposition. The rising time of the photovoltaic signal is about 3 ns with a peak value of 4.48 mV under the pulsed laser beam with energy density 0.015 m J/mm^2. The relation between the photovoltages and laser positions along the line between two electrodes of the film is also exhibited. A possible mechanism is put forward to explain this phenomenon.All data and analyses demonstrate that the orthorhombic tin oxide with an indirect band gap could be used as a candidate for an infrared photodetector which can be operated at high pressures and temperatures.

Origin of ultraviolet photovoltaic effect in Fe3O4 thin films

We have investigated the transport and ultraviolet photovoltaic properties of Fe3O4 thin films grown on glass substrates by facing-target sputtering technique. The nonlinear dependence of current-density on voltage suggests that the transport process is most likely the tunnelling process and grain boundaries act as barriers. Furthermore, nonequilibrium electron-hole pairs are excited in the grains and grain boundary regions for Fe3O4 film under ultraviolet laser, since the energy gap of Fe3O4 is smaller than the ultraviolet photon energy. And then the built-in electric field near the grain boundaries will separate carriers, leading to the appearance of an instant photovoltage.

Enhanced near-infrared responsivity of silicon photodetector by the impurity photovoltaic effect

The near-infrared responsivity of a silicon photodetector employing the impurity photovoltaic （IPV） effect is investigated with a numerical method. The improvement of the responsivity can reach 0.358 A/W at a wavelength of about 1200 nm, and its corresponding quantum efficiency is 41.1%. The origin of the enhanced responsivity is attributed to the absorption of sub-bandgap photons, which results in the carrier transition from the impurity energy level to the conduction band. The results indicate that the IPV effect may provide a general approach to enhancing the responsivity of photodetectors.

Ultraviolet laser-induced photovoltaic effects in miscut ferroelectric LiNbO_3 single crystals

This paper investigates the photovoltaic properties of miscut LiNbO3 single crystal with different thicknesses under irradiation of a 248 nm ultraviolet laser pulse with 20 ns duration without an applied bias. Nanosecond photovoltaic response is observed and faster rise time is obtained in thinner samples. In accord with the 248 nm laser duration, the full width at half maximum of the photovoltaic signals keeps a constant of ~ 20 ns. With decrease of the crystal thickness, the photovoltaic sensitivity was improved rapidly at first and then decreased, and the maximum photovoltage occurred at 0.38 mm-thick single crystal. The present results demonstrate that decreasing the LiNbO3 single crystal thickness can obtain faster response time and improve the photovoltaic sensitivity.

Temporal development of open-circuit bright photovoltaic solitons

This paper investigates the temporal behaviour of open-circuit bright photovoltaic spatial solitons by using numerical techniques. It shows that when the intensity ratio of the soliton, the ratio between the soliton peak intensity and the dark irradiance, is small, the quasi-steady-state soliton width decreases monotonically with the increase of τ-, where τ- is the parameter correlated with the time, that when the intensity ratio of the soliton is big, the quasi-steady-state soliton width decreases with the increase of τ- and then increases with τ, and that the formation time of the steady-state solitons is not correlated with the intensity ratio of the soliton. It finds that the local nonlinear effect increases with the photovoltaic field, which behaves as that the width of soliton beams is small and the self-focusing quasi-period is short. On the other hand, we also discuss that both the time and the temperature have an effect on the beam bending.

Ultraviolet photovoltaic characteristic of MgB2 thin film

Fast photoelectric effects have been observed in MgB2 thin film fabricated by chemical vapour deposition. The rise time was -10 ns and the full width at half-maximum was -185ns for the photovoltaic pulse when the film was irradiated by a 308 nm laser pulse of 25 ns in duration. X-ray diffraction and the scanning electron microscope revealed that the film was polycrystalline with preferred c-axis orientation. We propose that nonequilibrium electron-hole pairs are excited in the grains and grain boundary regions for MgB2 film under ultraviolet laser and then the built-ln electric field near the grain boundaries separates carriers, which lead to the appearance of an instant photovoltage.

Temperature-dependent rectifying and photovoltaic characteristics of an oxygen-deficient Bi_2Sr_2Co_2O_y/Si heterojunction

A Bi2Sr2Co2Oy/Si heterojunction is obtained by growing a layer of p-type oxygen-deficient Bi2Sr2Co2Oy film on a commercial n-type silicon wafer by pulsed laser deposition. Its rectifying and photovoltaic properties are studied in a wide temperature range from 20 K to 300 K. The transport mechanism under the forward bias can be attributed to a trap- filled space-charge-limited current conduction mechanism. Under the irradiation of a 532-nm continuous wave laser, a clear photovoltaic effect is observed and the magnitude ofphotovoltage increases as the temperature decreases, The results demonstrate the potential application of a Bi2SrzCo2Oy-based heterojunction in the photoelectronic devices.

Anomalous photovoltaic effect in Na_(0.5)Bi_(0.5)TiO_(3)-based ferroelectric ceramics based on domain engineering

The anomalous photovoltaic(APV)effect is promising for high-performance ferroelectric materials and devices in photoelectric applications.However,it is a challenge how to tune the APV effect by utilizing the characteristic structure of ferroelectrics.Here,a domain engineering strategy is proposed to enhance the APV effect in lead-free 0.88(Na_(0.5)Bi_(0.5)TiO_(3))-0.12(Ba_(1–1.5x)S_(mx)TiO_(3))(NBT-BST)ferroelectric ceramics.By tuning the domain size based on Sm^(3+)doping,a maximum open-circuit voltage(VOC)of 18.1 V is obtained when Sm^(3+)content is 0.75%,which is much larger than its bandgap(Eg).The mechanism of this large VOC originates from the multiple positive effects induced by the small-size domain,where decreasing domain size enhances ferroelectric polarization and net interface barrier potential,leading to a large driving electric field.Moreover,the APV effect exhibits a giant temperature sensitivity due to the dramatic evolution of small-size domain in the temperature field.This work sheds light on the exploration of ferroelectrics with APV effect and inspires their future high-performance optoelectronic device applications.

Hybrid 2D/3D Graphitic Carbon Nitride-Based High-Temperature Position-Sensitive Detector

Ultraviolet position-sensitive detectors(PSDs)are expected to undergo harsh environments,such as high temperatures,for a wide variety of applications in military,civilian,and aerospace.However,no report on relevant PSDs operating at high temperatures can be found up to now.Herein,we design a new 2D/3D graphitic carbon nitride(g-C_(3)N_(4))/gallium nitride(GaN)hybrid heterojunction to construct the ultraviolet high-temperature-resistant PSD.The g-C_(3)N_(4)/GaN PSD exhibits a high position sensitivity of 355 mV mm^(-1),a rise/fall response time of 1.7/2.3 ms,and a nonlinearity of 0.5%at room temperature.The ultralow formation energy of-0.917 eV atom^(-1)has been obtained via the thermodynamic phase stability calculations,which endows g-C_(3)N_(4)with robust stability against heat.By merits of the strong built-in electric field of the 2D/3D hybrid heterojunction and robust thermo-stability of g-C_(3)N_(4),the g-C_(3)N_(4)/GaN PSD delivers an excellent position sensitivity and angle detection nonlinearity of 315 mV mm^(-1)and 1.4%,respectively,with high repeatability at a high temperature up to 700 K,outperforming most of the other counterparts and even commercial silicon-based devices.This work unveils the high-temperature PSD,and pioneers a new path to constructing g-C_(3)N_(4)-based harsh-environment-tolerant optoelectronic devices.

A tetragonal tungsten bronze-type photocatalyst:Ferro-paraelectric phase transition and photocatalysis

Although ferroelectrics have potential applications in photocatalysis due to their highly efficient charge separation, their mechanism of charge separation is still unknown. A ferroelectric Sr0.7Ba0.3Nb2O6 （SBN‐70） semiconductor with a low ferro‐paraelectric phase transition （65℃） was studied. The photocatalytic activity for H2 production by ferroelectric and paraelectric SBN‐70 was examined. The spontaneous polarization in the ferroelectric phase strongly affected the photocata‐lytic performance and parallel ferroelectric domains significantly promoted photogenerated charge separation to result in better photocatalytic H2 production. This knowledge provides an important basis for the fabrication of ferroelectric photocatalysts with improved charge separation ability.

Broadband photovoltaic effect of n-type topological insulator Bi2Te3 films on p-type Si substrates

We report the photovoltaic effects of n-type topological insulator （TI） Bi2Te3 films grown on p-type Si substrates by chemical vapor deposition （CVD）. The films containing large nanoplates with a smooth surface formed on p-Si exhibit good p-n diode characteristics under dark and light illumination conditions and display a good photovoltaic effect under the broadband range from ultraviolet （UV） to near infrared （N1R） wavelengths. Under the light illumination with a wavelength of 1,000 nm, a short circuit current （Isc） of 19.2 μA and an open circuit voltage （Voc） of 235 mV are achieved. The maximum fill factor （FF） increases with a decrease in the wavelength or light density, achieving a value of 35.6% under 600 nm illumination. The photoresponse of the n-Bi2TeB/p-Si device can be effectively switched between the on and off modes in millisecond time scale. These findings are important for both the fundamental understanding and solar cell device avDlications of TI materials.

Influence of thermal effect on multi-junction GaInP/GaAs/Ge concentrating photovoltaic system

The influence of thermal effect on the energy conversion efficiency of concentrating photovoltaic system for multi-junction GaInP/GaAs/Ge thin-film solar cell is analyzed experimentally.With the increment of operation temperature,the maximal energy conversion efficiency and optimal loaded resistor will be changed.Under the condition of operation temperature lower than 90℃.this influence of thermal effect is very small.However,when the operation temperature exceeds 90℃,the maximal conversion efficiency of the cells will decrease sharply,and contrarily the corresponding optimal loaded resistor will increase quickly.Then the system performance will degenerate badly and a thermal management will be necessary.

Coupling Enhancement of a Flexible BiFeO_(3) Film-Based Nanogenerator for Simultaneously Scavenging Light and Vibration Energies

Coupled nanogenerators have been a research hotspot due to their ability to harvest a variety of forms of energy such as light,mechanical and thermal energy and achieve a stable direct current output.Ferroelectric films are frequently investigated for photovoltaic applications due to their unique photovoltaic properties and bandgap-independent photovoltage,while the flexoelectric effect is an electromechanical property commonly found in solid dielectrics.Here,we effectively construct a new form of coupled nanogenerator based on a flexible BiFeO_(3) ferroelectric film that combines both flexoelectric and photovoltaic effects to successfully harvest both light and vibration energies.This device converts an alternating current into a direct current and achieves a 6.2% charge enhancement and a 19.3%energy enhancement to achieve a multi-dimensional"1+1>2"coupling enhancement in terms of current,charge and energy.This work proposes a new approach to the coupling of multiple energy harvesting mechanisms in ferroelectric nanogenerators and provides a new strategy to enhance the transduction efficiency of flexible functional devices.

The effects of Eu^(3+) doping on the epitaxial growth and photovoltaic properties of BiFeO_(3) thin films

Nowadays,photovoltaic effect has been widely studied in various ferroelectric materials due to its ap-plications as optoelectronic devices.In this work,with BiFeO_(3)(BFO)films as the photovoltaic materials,we report the effects of Eu^(3+)doping content on the phase structure,ferroelectric and optical properties of BFO films grown on Ca_(0.96) Ce_(0.04) MnO_(3)/YAlO_(3)(001)substrate.We found that a small doping level of 0.05 could induce a phase change of BFO from tetragonal to rhombohedral,due to the shrinking of the lattice upon Eu^(3+)doping and the breaking of surface terrace structure induced by Ca_(0.96) Ce_(0.04) MnO_(3) layer.This results in a sharp band gap reduction from 3.30 eV to 2.60 eV,and a decrease in the coercivity of ferroelectric polarization switching.Based on these findings,we investigate the photovoltaic effects of ITO/Eu_(x) Bi_(1-x) FeO_(3)/Ca_(0.96) Ce_(0.04) MnO_(3) vertical capacitors.It is found that the short-circuit current density(J_(sc))decreases with increasing Eu^(3+)doping,whereas the open-circuit voltage(V_(oc))first increases to a level of 0.1 V and then decreases with further Eu^(3+)doping.This could be explained by the combined ef-fect of Schottky-junction and depolarization field on the photovoltaic process.Our research suggests that a moderate Eu^(3+)doping is helpful for enhancing the photovoltaic effect of BFO thin film devices.

Fast lateral photovoltaic effect in ferroelectric LiNbO_3 single crystals

We report the fast lateral photovoltaic effect in pure congruent LiNbO3 crystal induced by pulsed laser and continuous wave laser with wavelengths of 355, 532, and 1064 nm. A typical ultrafast photovoltage can be observed on the surface perpendicular to the c axis, With the rise time of 1.5 ns and the full-width at half-maximum of 1-2 ns, when the laser pulse inhomogeneously irradiates on the crystal. The peak open-circuit photovoltages show a linear dependence on the incident laser intensities. The mechanism of the photovoltaic characteristics is proposed.

Reversal transient laser-induced voltages in La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 films

This paper reports that the transient laser-induced voltages have been observed in La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films on MgO （001） in the absence of an applied current. A peak voltage of - 0.15 V was detected in response to 0.015J pulse of 308 nm laser. It is demonstrated that the signal polarity is reversed when the films are irradiated through the substrate rather than at the air/film interface. Off-diagonal thermoelectricity may support the inversion of the signal when the irradiation direction is reversed.