Photo by Andreas Gücklhorn on Unsplash
In the recent paper: “Strongly enhanced and tunable photovoltaic effect in ferroelectric-paraelectric superlattices (Jun 2021)”, researchers found a way to engineer a superlattice of ferroelectric BaTiO3 sandwiched between paraelectric SrTiO3 and CaTiO3 resulting in 1000 times higher photovoltaic (PV) effect than measured in regular BaTiO3 of a similar thickness. The result is intriguing since neither SrTiO3 nor CaTiO3 has a PV effect, except for SrTiO3 under extremely large strain gradients.
The PV effect is what is used in solar cells to create electricity from the sunlight. Whether a material is paraelectric or ferroelectric has to do with its polarization curve.
Furthermore, the paper investigates the PV effect across different temperatures and over long time periods. It shows a persistent enhancement over these variations and thereby robustness. Perhaps this technique can be used for creating more efficient solar cells in the future and contribute to a greener energy grid.
The paper, including a STEM image of the structure, can be found here:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe4206
If you’d like to learn more about nanotechnology, please subscribe to our newsletter and stay tuned for upcoming posts. Credit to Thomas Conrad for bringing the scientific paper to our attention.