TY - JOUR
KW - Electronics
KW - Light absorption
KW - Electric potential
KW - Semiconductor
KW - Electric fields
KW - Iron compounds
KW - Domain walls
KW - Ferroelectric materials
KW - Bismuth compounds
KW - Energy conversion
KW - Energy gap
KW - Ferroelectricity
KW - Electric field
KW - Article
KW - Priority journal
KW - Ferroelectric domains
KW - Electric-field control
KW - Electrostatic potentials
KW - Semiconductor electronics
KW - Semiconductor devices
KW - Photovoltaic effects
KW - Photovoltaic devices
KW - Solid state
KW - Nanomaterial
KW - Optoelectronic devices
KW - Charge separations
KW - Different mechanisms
KW - Electron hole pairs
KW - Photovoltaic device
AU - S.Y Yang
AU - J Seidel
AU - S.J Byrnes
AU - P Shafer
AU - C.-H Yang
AU - M.D Rossell
AU - P Yu
AU - Y.-H Chu
AU - J.F Scott
AU - Joel W Ager
AU - L.W Martin
AU - Ramamoorthy Ramesh
AB - In conventional solid-state photovoltaics, electron-hole pairs are created by light absorption in a semiconductor and separated by the electric field spaning a micrometre-thick depletion region. The maximum voltage these devices can produce is equal to the semiconductor electronic bandgap. Here, we report the discovery of a fundamentally different mechanism for photovoltaic charge separation, which operates over a distance of 1-2nm and produces voltages that are significantly higher than the bandgap. The separation happens at previously unobserved nanoscale steps of the electrostatic potential that naturally occur at ferroelectric domain walls in the complex oxide BiFeO 3. Electric-field control over domain structure allows the photovoltaic effect to be reversed in polarity or turned off. This new degree of control, and the high voltages produced, may find application in optoelectronic devices. © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
BT - Nature Nanotechnology
DO - 10.1038/nnano.2009.451
LA - eng
M1 - 2
N1 - cited By 947
N2 - In conventional solid-state photovoltaics, electron-hole pairs are created by light absorption in a semiconductor and separated by the electric field spaning a micrometre-thick depletion region. The maximum voltage these devices can produce is equal to the semiconductor electronic bandgap. Here, we report the discovery of a fundamentally different mechanism for photovoltaic charge separation, which operates over a distance of 1-2nm and produces voltages that are significantly higher than the bandgap. The separation happens at previously unobserved nanoscale steps of the electrostatic potential that naturally occur at ferroelectric domain walls in the complex oxide BiFeO 3. Electric-field control over domain structure allows the photovoltaic effect to be reversed in polarity or turned off. This new degree of control, and the high voltages produced, may find application in optoelectronic devices. © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
PB - Nature Publishing Group
PY - 2010
SP - 143
EP - 147
T2 - Nature Nanotechnology
TI - Above-bandgap voltages from ferroelectric photovoltaic devices
VL - 5
SN - 17483387
ER -