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Enhanced photovoltaic behavior of thickness-dependent BiFeO3-based heterostructures via the introduction of electron transport layers

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Abstract

Thickness and direct band gap are two important parameters affecting the photovoltaic performance of BiFeO3 (BFO)-based thin film. In this paper, thickness effects on the microstructure and insulating properties of BFO thin film are firstly explored. The minimum leakage current density (2.18 × 10− 5 A/cm2 at 200 kV/cm) of 200 nm thin film is obtained due to a well-crystallized polycrystalline structure with high densification. On the basis, FTO/TiO2/BFO and FTO/ZnO/BFO heterostructures are proposed and successfully prepared. It turns out that with the introduction of TiO2 and ZnO acting as electron transport layer, both heterostructures possess enhanced absorption intensity and exhibit a significant red-shift, which can be ascribed to the reduced direct band gap (Eg) of 2.66 and 2.63 eV, respectively. Particularly, ZnO/BFO possess enhanced photovoltaic with relatively large Voc, Jsc, FF and η values of 1.32 V, 3.63 mA/cm2, 0.59 and 2.86, respectively. Our results demonstrate that the introduction of electron transport layer tends to be an effective way in improving the photovoltaic performance of BFO-based films.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. U1806221, 51672198, 51272191), Innovation and Development Project of Zibo City (2017CX01A022), Instruction & Development Project for National Funding Innovation Demonstration Zone of Shandong Province (2016-181-11, 2017-41-1, 2017-41-3, 2018ZCQZB01), and Central Guiding Local Science and Technology Development Special Funds (Grant No. 2060503).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    H. J. Sun

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    H. Ke & H. T. Sui

  3. School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    X. F. Liu

  4. Advanced Ceramics Institute of Zibo New & High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Zibo, 255000, People’s Republic of China

    H. J. Sun & H. T. Sui

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  1. H. Ke
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  2. H. J. Sun
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  4. H. T. Sui
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Correspondence to H. J. Sun.

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Ke, H., Sun, H.J., Liu, X.F. et al. Enhanced photovoltaic behavior of thickness-dependent BiFeO3-based heterostructures via the introduction of electron transport layers. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 8018–8023 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-01123-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-01123-4

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