Tuning effect and switching behavior of sunlight field on lateral photovoltaic effect of Zn0.95Cu0.05O/p-Si heterojunction

•The lateral photovoltage of ZCO/p-Si heterojunction was measured, achieving successful LPV tuning with sunlight.•The internal mechanism of sunlight-tuned LPV involves carrier scattering mechanism and internal electric field change.•The switching behavior of sunlight on the lateral photovoltaic effect is successfully realized. In this paper, the Zn0.95Cu0.05O/p-Si heterojunction with lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) is prepared that has the tuning effect and switching behavior of sunlight field. The dependence of the lateral photovoltage (LPV) on the laser position shows high sensitivity (20 mV mm−1) and strict linearity. Interestingly, the LPV eventually decreased to 0 mV as the sunlight intensity increased to 48 mW, under the constant laser intensity and position, indicating the application potential of a photo-switch. This light field effect results from the irradiation of sunlight, which changes the position of quasi-Fermi level, reduces the drive power for carriers by the space charge region in the heterojunction, and increases the concentration of carriers resulting in increased the scattering between carriers to decrease the lifetime of carriers produced by the laser. This work can expand the application of LPE in the field of multifunctional devices such as photo-switches, position sensors and self-powered devices.