Enhancing the bulk photovoltaic effect by tuning domain walls in epitaxial BiFeO3films

Yang Chen; Haoming Wei; Mingxu Wang; Bingqiang Cao

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ac225e

Enhancing the bulk photovoltaic effect by tuning domain walls in epitaxial BiFeO₃films

Nanotechnology. 2021 Sep 15;32(49). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac225e.

Authors

Yang Chen¹, Haoming Wei¹, Mingxu Wang¹, Bingqiang Cao²

Affiliations

¹ School of Physics and Physical Engineering, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Laser Polarization and Information Technology, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
² School of Material Science and Engineering, Materials Research Center for Energy and Photoelectrochemical Conversion, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, Shandong, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 34464943
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac225e

Abstract

In this letter, the role of domain wall (DW) on bulk photovoltaic effect (BPV) effect in BiFeO₃(BFO) films was studied by x-ray reciprocal space mapping and conductive atomic force microscope. It was found that the domain structure and DW can be tuned by controlling the epitaxial orientation of BFO film. Remarkably, under 1 sun AM 1.5 G illumination, the 109° DW enhances the transport of photogenerated carriers and simultaneously improves the conductivity and power conversion efficiency (PCE). The short-circuit current density and PCE can reach 171.15μA cm^-2and 0.1127%, respectively. Therefore, our study reveals the correlation between the DW and the BPV effect in BFO film and provides a new pathway to improve the PCE of BFO-based photovoltaic device.

Keywords: BiFeO3; bulk photovoltaic effect; domain wall; epitaxial films.