Tailoring the photovoltaic effect in (111) oriented BiFeO3/LaFeO3 superlattices

J. Belhadi (1) , S. Yousfi (2) , M. El Marssi (1) , D. C. Arnold , H. Bouyanfif (1)

1 LPMC - Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée - UR UPJV 2081
2 UMMTO - Université Mouloud Mammeri [Tizi Ouzou]

Ferroelectric and photovoltaic properties of (BiFeO3)((1-x)?)/(LaFeO3)(x?) superlattices grown by pulsed laser deposition have been investigated (? being the bilayer thickness). For a high concentration of BiFeO3 a ferroelectric state is observed simultaneously with a switchable photovoltaic response. In contrast for certain concentration of LaFeO3 a non-switchable photovoltaic effect is evidenced. Such modulation of the PV response in the superlattices is attributed to the ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition which is controlled with the increase of x. Remarkably, concomitant to this change of PV mechanism, a change of the conduction mechanism also seems to take place from a bulk-limited to an interface-limited transport as x increases.

Domaines: Matière Condensée [cond-mat]

J. Belhadi, S. Yousfi, M. El Marssi, D. C. Arnold, H. Bouyanfif. Tailoring the photovoltaic effect in (111) oriented BiFeO3/LaFeO3 superlattices. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 2020, 32 (13), ⟨10.1088/1361-648X/ab5e11⟩. ⟨hal-03627236⟩