Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Effects on the Optical Process in Advanced Materials and Devices

Abstract

Piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials have shown great potential for control of the optical process in emerging materials. There are three ways for them to impact on the optical process in various materials. They can act as external perturbations, such as ferroelectric gating and piezoelectric strain, to tune the optical properties of the materials and devices. Second, ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity as innate attributes may exist in some optoelectronic materials, which can couple with other functional features (e.g., semiconductor transport, photoexcitation, and photovoltaics) in the materials giving rise to unprecedented device characteristics. The last way is artificially introducing optical functionalities into ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials and devices, which provides an opportunity for investigating the intriguing interplay between the parameters (e.g., electric field, temperature, and strain) and the introduced optical properties. Here, the tuning strategies, fundamental mechanisms, and recent progress in ferroelectric and piezoelectric effects modulating the optical properties of a wide spectrum of materials, including lanthanide-doped phosphors, quantum dots, 2D materials, wurtzite-type semiconductors, and hybrid perovskites, are presented. Finally, the future outlook and challenges of this exciting field are suggested.

AlScN: A III-V semiconductor based ferroelectric

“…With S3 and E3 being strain and electric field normal to the capacitor surface, the longitudinal thin film piezoelectric coefficient d33,f is defined as (4) under the assumption of a perfectly rigid substrate. This assumption however is violated in reality, giving rise to a systematic over-or underestimation of d33,f.…”

Advances in Piezo‐Phototronic Effect Enhanced Photocatalysis and Photoelectrocatalysis

“…[ 20 ] Since then, significant progresses have been made in research such as nanogenerators, strain sensors, piezotronic field‐effect transistors, solar cells, light‐emitting diodes, strain‐gated vertical nanowire arrays, and other devices. [ 10,21 ] Afterward, the concept of piezo‐phototronics was first proposed by Prof. Wang in 2010. [ 13 ] Piezo‐phototronics mainly focuses on modulating piezoelectric charges/piezopotential to tune the charge migration behaviors (separation, transportation, and recombination) and redox kinetics, which is simultaneously based on a coupling construction of semiconducting, photoexciting, and piezoelectric properties.…”

Recent Progress in Three‐Terminal Artificial Synapses: From Device to System

“…Applying voltage pulses to the device modifies the domain population, thereby inducing resistance changes . For example, in graphene/ferroelectric field‐effect transistors (FETs), the nonlinear ferroelectric polarization can effectively tune the transport properties of graphene . Furthermore, a vertical graphene heterostructure field‐effect transistor (VGHFET) that uses an ultrathin ferroelectric film as a tunnel barrier can provide new degrees of tunability and functionality as a result of coupling between the ferroelectricity and the tunnel current of the VGHFET, thus the device has ultrahigh current on/off ratio …”