Photovoltaic effects in BiFeO3

Journal Article

Yang, S.Y., L.W. Martin, S.J. Byrnes, T.E. Conry, S.R. Basu, D. Paran, L. Reichertz, J. Ihlefeld, C. Adamo, A. Melville, Y.-H. Chu, C.-H. Yang, J.L. Musfeldt, D.G. Schlom, J.W. Ager, Ramamoorthy Ramesh

10.1063/1.3204695

We report a photovoltaic effect in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin films. The all-oxide heterostructures with SrRuO3 bottom and tin doped indium oxide top electrodes are characterized by open-circuit voltages ∼0.8-0.9 V and external quantum efficiencies up to ∼10% when illuminated with the appropriate light. Efficiencies are at least an order of magnitude larger than the maximum efficiency under sunlight (AM 1.5) thus far reported for ferroelectric-based devices. The dependence of the measured open-circuit voltage on film thickness suggests contributions to the large open-circuit voltage from both the ferroelectric polarization and band offsets at the BiFeO3 /tin doped indium oxide interface. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.

Applied Physics Letters

95

2009

00036951

Ramesh Lab