RESEARCH

Research Clusters

Ferroelectric Photovoltaics

Ferroelectric materials exhibit a characteristic photovoltaic effect that can generate photovoltage far exceeding their bandgap energy. The absence of limitation in the photovoltage by the bandgap is a great advantage of the ferroelectric photovoltaic (FPV) effect over the conventional PV effect in p-n junctions of semiconductors. Since typical ferroelectric oxides have the wide bandgap, a vanishingly small photoresponse under visible light has been an issue to be overcome. To activate the photoresponse under visible-light irradiation, Matsuo and Noguchi have proposed a materials design strategy ‘gap-state’ engineering, in which defect states within the bandgap derived from intentionally introduced impurities act as a stepping stone for photocarrier generation. The aim of this research unit is to clarify the photovoltaic properties and photocarrier dynamics in transition metal-doped ferroelectrics with the gap states. In this collaboration research, Ceracomp Co., Ltd. supplies ferroelectric single crystals synthesized by a solid-state single crystal growth (SSCG) method and their FPV properties are evaluated in Kumamoto university. The SSCG method is a cost-effective crystal growth method that enables the fabrication of single crystals with complex chemical compositions which are difficult to obtain in conventional melt-growth techniques. By combining the gap-state engineering and the SSCG method, we develop novel ferroelectric materials that exhibit enhanced FPV response under visible light irradiation. Besides, the dynamics of photocarriers in the ferroelectric single crystals are investigated by the transient absorption spectroscopy method.

Ferroelectric Photovoltaics

Cluster members

  • Japan
    Coordinator
    Hiroki MATSUO Website

    Associate Professor
    IROAST, Kumamoto University

    Japan
  • Japan
    Sub-Coordinator
    Yuji NOGUCHI Website

    Professor
    Research and Education Institute for Semiconductors and Informatics, Kumamoto University

    Japan
  • Korea
    Ho-Yong LEE

    Professor
    President, Ceracomp Co., Ltd.

    Korea
  • Korea
    Moon-Chan KIM

    Researcher
    Ceracomp Co., Ltd

    Korea
  • Japan
    Daisuke KOSUMI Website

    Associate Professor
    Institute of Industrial Nanomaterials, Kumamoto University

    Japan

Achievement

Publications
2024
2023
2022
Publications
Grants
  • JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) "Control of Defect Dipoles for Designing Hyper-Ordered Structure in Ferroelectric Perovskite Oxides”, April 2023-March 2025
  • The Asahi Glass Foundation Research Encouragement Grants FY2022, 次世代蓄電デバイスに向けた新規欠陥双極子誘起強誘電体の創製, April 2022-March, 2023
  • Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), April 2022-March 2023

Activities

Presentations
  • (Invited) Hiroki Matsuo*
    The 77th Ceramic Society of Japan Awards for Advancements in Ceramic Science and Technology
    “Development of Photovoltaic Functions in Perovskite-type Ferroelectric Materials”
    Annual Meeting 2023 of the Ceramic Society of Japan, Mar. 2023, Yokohama.
  • Hiroki Matsuo and Yuji Noguchi
    “Domain-engineered BiFeO3-base ferroelectric with high-photocurrent anisotropy for visible-light polarization detection”
    13th Korea-Japan Conference on Ferroelectrics (KJC-FE13), Sep. 2022, Busan (Virtual)
  • Hiroki Matsuo and Yuji Noguchi
    “Ferroelectric Photovoltaic Effect in BiFeO3-based solid-solution thin films with nanodomain structures”
    35th Fall Meeting of the Ceramic Society of Japan, Sep. 2022, Tokushima (Virtual).
  • Hiroki Matsuo and Yuji Noguchi
    “Enhanced photovoltaic effects in ferroelectric thin films with nanodomains”
    15th International Symposium on Ferroic Domains & Micro- to Nano-scopic Structures (ISFD-15), Aug. 2022, Yamanashi.
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