High-quality LaVO3 films as solar energy conversion material
Abstract
Mott insulating oxides and their heterostructures have recently been identified as potential photovoltaic materials with favorable absorption properties and an intrinsic built-in electric field that can efficiently separate excited electron hole pairs. At the same time, they are predicted to overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit due to strong electron electron interaction present. Despite these premises a high concentration of defects commonly observed in Mott insulating films acting as recombination centers can derogate the photovoltaic conversion efficiency. With use of the self-regulated growth kinetics in hybrid molecular beam epitaxy, this obstacle can be overcome. High-quality, stoichiometric LaVO3 films were grown with defect densities of in-gap states up to 2 orders of magnitude lower compared to the films in the literature, and a factor of 3 lower than LaVO3 bulk single crystals. Photoconductivity measurements revealed a significant photoresponsivity increase as high as tenfold of stoichiometric LaVO3 films compared to their nonstoichiometric counterparts. Furthermore, this work marks a critical step toward the realization of high-performance Mott insulator solar cells beyond conventional semiconductors.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1];
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22), Scientific User Facilities Division
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1371945
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 14; Journal ID: ISSN 1944-8244
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; thin film; Mott insulator; photovoltaic materials; physical vapor deposition; transitional metal oxide
Citation Formats
Zhang, Hai -Tian, Brahlek, Matthew, Ji, Xiaoyu, Lei, Shiming, Lapano, Jason, Freeland, John W., Gopalan, Venkatraman, and Engel-Herbert, Roman. High-quality LaVO3 films as solar energy conversion material. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1021/acsami.6b16007.
Zhang, Hai -Tian, Brahlek, Matthew, Ji, Xiaoyu, Lei, Shiming, Lapano, Jason, Freeland, John W., Gopalan, Venkatraman, & Engel-Herbert, Roman. High-quality LaVO3 films as solar energy conversion material. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b16007
Zhang, Hai -Tian, Brahlek, Matthew, Ji, Xiaoyu, Lei, Shiming, Lapano, Jason, Freeland, John W., Gopalan, Venkatraman, and Engel-Herbert, Roman. Tue .
"High-quality LaVO3 films as solar energy conversion material". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b16007. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1371945.
@article{osti_1371945,
title = {High-quality LaVO3 films as solar energy conversion material},
author = {Zhang, Hai -Tian and Brahlek, Matthew and Ji, Xiaoyu and Lei, Shiming and Lapano, Jason and Freeland, John W. and Gopalan, Venkatraman and Engel-Herbert, Roman},
abstractNote = {Mott insulating oxides and their heterostructures have recently been identified as potential photovoltaic materials with favorable absorption properties and an intrinsic built-in electric field that can efficiently separate excited electron hole pairs. At the same time, they are predicted to overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit due to strong electron electron interaction present. Despite these premises a high concentration of defects commonly observed in Mott insulating films acting as recombination centers can derogate the photovoltaic conversion efficiency. With use of the self-regulated growth kinetics in hybrid molecular beam epitaxy, this obstacle can be overcome. High-quality, stoichiometric LaVO3 films were grown with defect densities of in-gap states up to 2 orders of magnitude lower compared to the films in the literature, and a factor of 3 lower than LaVO3 bulk single crystals. Photoconductivity measurements revealed a significant photoresponsivity increase as high as tenfold of stoichiometric LaVO3 films compared to their nonstoichiometric counterparts. Furthermore, this work marks a critical step toward the realization of high-performance Mott insulator solar cells beyond conventional semiconductors.},
doi = {10.1021/acsami.6b16007},
journal = {ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces},
number = 14,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Tue Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 23 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Strongly Correlated Materials
journal, August 2012
- Morosan, Emilia; Natelson, Douglas; Nevidomskyy, Andriy H.
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 24, Issue 36
Percolative phase separation underlies colossal magnetoresistance in mixed-valent manganites
journal, June 1999
- Uehara, M.; Mori, S.; Chen, C. H.
- Nature, Vol. 399, Issue 6736
Mott Memory and Neuromorphic Devices
journal, August 2015
- You Zhou, ; Ramanathan, Shriram
- Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 103, Issue 8
A steep-slope transistor based on abrupt electronic phase transition
journal, August 2015
- Shukla, Nikhil; Thathachary, Arun V.; Agrawal, Ashish
- Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 1
26.5 Terahertz electrically triggered RF switch on epitaxial VO2-on-Sapphire (VOS) wafer
conference, December 2015
- Madan, H.; Zhang, H-T.; Jerry, M.
- 2015 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM)
Correlated metals as transparent conductors
journal, December 2015
- Zhang, Lei; Zhou, Yuanjun; Guo, Lu
- Nature Materials, Vol. 15, Issue 2
Oxide Heterostructures for Efficient Solar Cells
journal, February 2013
- Assmann, Elias; Blaha, Peter; Laskowski, Robert
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 7
Role of impact ionization in the thermalization of photoexcited Mott insulators
journal, December 2014
- Werner, Philipp; Held, Karsten; Eckstein, Martin
- Physical Review B, Vol. 90, Issue 23
Photovoltaic effect for narrow-gap Mott insulators
journal, September 2010
- Manousakis, Efstratios
- Physical Review B, Vol. 82, Issue 12
Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p‐n Junction Solar Cells
journal, March 1961
- Shockley, William; Queisser, Hans J.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 32, Issue 3, p. 510-519
Variation of optical gaps in perovskite-type 3 d transition-metal oxides
journal, December 1993
- Arima, T.; Tokura, Y.; Torrance, J. B.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 48, Issue 23
Recombination activity of interstitial iron and other transition metal point defects in p- and n-type crystalline silicon
journal, November 2004
- Macdonald, Daniel; Geerligs, L. J.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 85, Issue 18
A Novel, Layered Phase in Ti-Rich SrTiO 3 Epitaxial Thin Films
journal, December 2014
- Lee, Sungki; Damodaran, Anoop R.; Gorai, Prashun
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 27, Issue 5
Growth of homoepitaxial SrTiO3 thin films by molecular-beam epitaxy
journal, April 2009
- Brooks, C. M.; Kourkoutis, L. Fitting; Heeg, T.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 94, Issue 16
Growth control of stoichiometry in LaMnO3 epitaxial thin films by pulsed laser deposition
journal, October 2010
- Marton, Zsolt; A. Seo, Sung Seok; Egami, Takeshi
- Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 312, Issue 20
Advances in the growth and characterization of magnetic, ferroelectric, and multiferroic oxide thin films
journal, May 2010
- Martin, L. W.; Chu, Y. -H.; Ramesh, R.
- Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports, Vol. 68, Issue 4-6
Multiferroics progress and prospects in thin films
journal, January 2007
- Ramesh, R.; Spaldin, Nicola A.
- Nature Materials, Vol. 6, Issue 1, p. 21-29
Growth and epitaxial structure of LaVOx films
journal, July 2006
- Hotta, Y.; Mukunoki, Y.; Susaki, T.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 3
Defects and transport in complex oxide thin films
journal, May 2008
- Ohnishi, Tsuyoshi; Shibuya, Keisuke; Yamamoto, Takahisa
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 103, Issue 10
Nonstoichiometry, Structure, and Properties of BiFeO 3 Films
journal, August 2016
- Dedon, Liv R.; Saremi, Sahar; Chen, Zuhuang
- Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 16
Growth of high-quality SrTiO3 films using a hybrid molecular beam epitaxy approach
journal, May 2009
- Jalan, Bharat; Engel-Herbert, Roman; Wright, Nicholas J.
- Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 27, Issue 3
Self-regulated growth of LaVO3 thin films by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy
journal, June 2015
- Zhang, Hai-Tian; Dedon, Liv R.; Martin, Lane W.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 23
Hybrid molecular beam epitaxy for the growth of stoichiometric BaSnO 3
journal, November 2015
- Prakash, Abhinav; Dewey, John; Yun, Hwanhui
- Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 33, Issue 6
Accessing a growth window for SrVO3 thin films
journal, October 2015
- Brahlek, Matthew; Zhang, Lei; Eaton, Craig
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 14
Unleashing Strain Induced Ferroelectricity in Complex Oxide Thin Films via Precise Stoichiometry Control
journal, September 2016
- Haislmaier, Ryan C.; Grimley, Everett D.; Biegalski, Michael D.
- Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 26, Issue 40
Highly Conductive SrVO 3 as a Bottom Electrode for Functional Perovskite Oxides
journal, May 2013
- Moyer, Jarrett A.; Eaton, Craig; Engel-Herbert, Roman
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 25, Issue 26
Mapping growth windows in quaternary perovskite oxide systems by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy
journal, September 2016
- Brahlek, Matthew; Zhang, Lei; Zhang, Hai-Tian
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 10
Optical Study of Electronic Structure in Perovskite-Type R M O 3 ( R =La, Y; M =Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu)
journal, July 1995
- Arima, Taka-hisa; Tokura, Yoshinori
- Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, Vol. 64, Issue 7
Effects of rare-earth size on the electronic structure of La 1− x Lu x VO 3
journal, February 2015
- Chen, B.; Laverock, J.; Newby, D.
- Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 27, Issue 10
Low-energy V t 2g orbital excitations in NdVO 3
journal, October 2014
- Laverock, J.; Chen, B.; Preston, A. R. H.
- Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 26, Issue 45
Optical spectroscopy of the carrier dynamics in LaVO /SrVO superlattices
journal, September 2011
- Jeong, D. W.; Choi, Woo Seok; Kang, T. D.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 84, Issue 11
Device Performance of the Mott Insulator as a Photovoltaic Material
journal, June 2015
- Wang, Lingfei; Li, Yongfeng; Bera, Ashok
- Physical Review Applied, Vol. 3, Issue 6
Change of electronic properties on the doping-induced insulator-metal transition in
journal, July 1995
- Inaba, F.; Arima, T.; Ishikawa, T.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 52, Issue 4
Anisotropy of Mott–Hubbard Gap Transitions due to Spin and Orbital Ordering in LaVO 3 and YVO 3
journal, September 2002
- Miyasaka, Shigeki; Okimoto, Yoichi; Tokura, Yoshinori
- Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, Vol. 71, Issue 9
Ultrafast photoinduced melting of orbital order in
journal, July 2003
- Tomimoto, S.; Miyasaka, S.; Ogasawara, T.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 68, Issue 3
Non-Stoichiometric LaVO3. I. Synthesis and Physical Properties.
journal, January 1998
- Seim, Helene; Fjellvåg, Helmer; Marøy, Kjartan
- Acta Chemica Scandinavica, Vol. 52
Structural analysis of strained LaVO 3 thin films
journal, March 2015
- Rotella, H.; Copie, O.; Steciuk, G.
- Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 27, Issue 17
Metal-insulator transitions
journal, October 1998
- Imada, Masatoshi; Fujimori, Atsushi; Tokura, Yoshinori
- Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 70, Issue 4, p. 1039-1263
Optical conductivity and x-ray absorption spectra of the Mott-Hubbard compounds ( , Ca, La, and Y)
journal, November 2009
- Mossanek, R. J. O.; Abbate, M.; Fonseca, P. T.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 80, Issue 19
Structure, morphology and properties of thinned Cu(In, Ga)Se 2 films and solar cells
journal, February 2012
- Han, Anjun; Zhang, Yi; Song, Wei
- Semiconductor Science and Technology, Vol. 27, Issue 3
Experimental Determination of the Extinction Coefficient of CdTe, CdSe, and CdS Nanocrystals
journal, July 2003
- Yu, W. William; Qu, Lianhua; Guo, Wenzhuo
- Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 15, Issue 14, p. 2854-2860
Dielectric functions and optical parameters of Si, Ge, GaP, GaAs, GaSb, InP, InAs, and InSb from 1.5 to 6.0 eV
journal, January 1983
- Aspnes, D. E.; Studna, A. A.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 27, Issue 2
Electronic structure of studied by high-energy spectroscopies
journal, March 1999
- Pen, H. F.; Abbate, M.; Fuijmori, A.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 59, Issue 11
Doping Variation of Orbitally Induced Anisotropy in the Electronic Structure of
journal, November 2006
- Fujioka, J.; Miyasaka, S.; Tokura, Y.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 19
Thermodynamic stabilities of LaVO3 and LaVO4 by e.m.f. methods
journal, July 1995
- Pankajavalli, R.; Sreedharan, O. M.
- Materials Letters, Vol. 24, Issue 4
Photochemical charge transfer observed in nanoscale hydrogen evolving photocatalysts using surface photovoltage spectroscopy
journal, January 2015
- Wang, J.; Zhao, J.; Osterloh, F. E.
- Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 8, Issue 10
Molecular beam epitaxy of SrTiO3 with a growth window
journal, July 2009
- Jalan, Bharat; Moetakef, Pouya; Stemmer, Susanne
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 95, Issue 3
Works referencing / citing this record:
Performance Investigation of Mott-Insulator LaVO3 as a Photovoltaic Absorber Material
journal, September 2019
- Dixit, Himanshu; Punetha, Deepak; Pandey, Saurabh Kumar
- Journal of Electronic Materials, Vol. 48, Issue 12
Overlapping growth windows to build complex oxide superlattices
journal, November 2018
- Haislmaier, Ryan C.; Lapano, Jason; Yuan, Yakun
- APL Materials, Vol. 6, Issue 11
Enhanced photovoltaic efficiency and persisted photoresponse switchability in LaVO 3 /Pb(Zr 0.2 Ti 0.8 )O 3 perovskite heterostructures
journal, January 2019
- Cheng, Shengliang; Fan, Zhen; Zhao, Lei
- Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Vol. 7, Issue 40
Optimizing the role of impact ionization in conventional insulators
journal, December 2019
- Manousakis, Efstratios
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1