The effects of crystal orientation on the ferroelectric and optoelectronic properties of Pt/Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3/La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 heterostructures

Due to their excellent ferroelectric, semiconducting, and optoelectronic properties, perovskite ferroelectric thin films have attracted increasing attention in the photovoltaic field. Using La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 (LSCO) as the bottom electrode, flake, strip and pyramidal Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (NBT) films were prepared on (001), (110) and (111) SrTiO3 (STO) substrates by off-axis magnetron sputtering and pulsed laser deposition, respectively. XRD and Phi scan results show that both LSCO and NBT are perovskite structures and satisfy the epitaxial growth along the substrate STO. NBT orientation has a significant effect on the ferroelectric properties of Pt/NBT/LSCO heterostructures. The remnant polarization 2Pr values for NBT(111), NBT(110) and NBT(001) are 87.5, 62.6 and 28.5 μC/cm2, respectively, and thus 2Pr(111)>2Pr(110)>2Pr(001). NBT(111) shows the best ferroelectric properties (Pr=41.3 μC/cm2), excellent fatigue-resisting (up to 1010 cycles) and retention performance (duration 104s). The 2Pr-T association 2 Pr=41.72+16.05*T0.35 for NBT(111) was obtained according to the curve fitting, it is found that the NBT orientation has a significant effect on the PV effect for PT/NBT/LSCO photovoltaics and the open-circuit voltage ∆Voc. The short-circuit current ∆Jsc of polarization regulate intensity follows the laws of ∆Voc-111>∆Voc-110>∆Voc-001 and ∆Jsc-111>∆Jsc-110>∆Jsc-001, the Jsc for Pt/NBT(111)/LSCO heterostructures increases linearly with the illumination Ip increasing, while the Voc decreases linearly. The ferroelectro-polarized modulation PV mechanism was investigated by analyzing band structure of the Pt/NBT/LSCO heterostructures, which is attributed to the coupling effect of the ferroelectric depolarization field and the interfacial Schottky barrier. •The effects of crystal orientation on the Pt/NBT/LSCO heterostructures are investigated.•The ferroelectro-polarized modulation PV mechanism was investigated.•This work can promote the NBT crystals potential application in optoelectronic device.