Photogalvanic Shift Currents in BiFeO3 --LaFeO3 Superlattices

TL;DR

This study uses computational methods to show that stacking BiFeO3 and LaFeO3 enhances optical absorption and photovoltaic shift current, offering a promising approach for improved ferroelectric solar cells.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that BiFeO3/LaFeO3 superlattices improve optical absorption and shift current through first-principles calculations, revealing a new pathway for ferroelectric photovoltaic optimization.

Findings

Enhanced optical absorption at larger wavelengths due to LaFeO3

Increased shift current in superlattices compared to pure BiFeO3

Suppression of destructive interferences improves photovoltaic response

Abstract

Designing materials with controlled photovoltaic response may lead to improved solar cells or photosensors. In this regard, ferroelectric superlattices have emerged as a rich platform to engineer functional properties. In addition, ferroelectrics are naturally endowed with a bulk photovoltaic response stemming from non-thermalized photoexcited carriers, which can overcome the fundamental limits of current solar cells. Yet, their photovoltaic output has been limited by poor optical absorption and poor charge collection or photo-excited carrier mean free path. We use Density Functional Theory and Wannierization to compute the so-called Bulk Photovoltaic shift current and the optical properties of BiFeO3/LaFeO3 superlattices. We show that, by stacking these two materials, not only the optical absorption is improved at larger wavelengths (due to LaFeO3 smaller bandgap), but the photovolgavanic shift current is also enhanced compared to that of pure BiFeO3 , by suppressing the destructive interferences occurring between different wavelengths.