Photovoltaic effects in BiFeO3

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.

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