Novel photo-voltaic device based on Bi_{1−x}La_xFeO_3 perovskite films with higher efficiency

Journal article, 2019

Photovoltaic cells using polycrystalline La substituted bismuth iron oxide, Bi1−xLaxFeO3, (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.4), films as the light harvesting component were investigated in this work. A novel cell set-up utilizing a double layered TiO2 film as top contact and a thin layer of quasi-solid polymer electrolyte as back contact was used and a significant enhancement in cell efficiency was observed for assemblies based on x ≥ 0.2 samples, coincident with a structural transition of Bi1−xLaxFeO3 from ferroelectric to non-ferroelectric. The power conversion efficiency of the PV device was 0.13% for the cell with x = 0.2 at 1 sun irradiation. The short circuit current density for this La composition was 0.35 mA cm−2. A hysteretic behaviour was observed for higher La compositions when the scanning is from open-circuit (OP) to short-circuit (SC) which may be attributed to polarization effects. The results at x ≥ 0.2 show an improved performance with respect to BiFeO3 based systems, suggesting the stabilization of the non-ferroelectric crystal structure leads either to a more efficient separation of photo-generated electron–hole pairs and/or enhanced charge transport. The findings represent a step towards the realisation of facile to fabricate, inorganic solid state photovoltaic devices.