Issue

Vol. 18 (2026)

Chemo-Strain Valence Engineering for Boosting Photovoltaic Response in Double Perovskite Epitaxial Films

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-026-02105-y
Yonghui Wu
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Jie Tu
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Jing Xia
Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China
Xudong Liu
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Longyuan Shi
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Hangren Li
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Menglin Li
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Peng Chen
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Qianqian Yang
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Siyuan Du
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Pengfei Song
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Haiying Li
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Qian Zhan
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Xiaolong Li
Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, People’s Republic of China
Jianjun Tian
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
Linxing Zhang
Institute for Advanced Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Linxing Zhang

linxingzhang@ustb.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 18 (2026), Article Number: 271

Abstract

Double perovskite films offer significant potential for multiferroic and ferroelectric photovoltaics due to their structural tunability. This study employs an aliovalent substitution strategy, partially replacing Bi with Pb in Bi2FeMnO6 (BFMO), to disrupt charge balance and local polarization while maintaining the host lattice. Pb incorporation simultaneously modulates the chemical states of all constituent elements, inducing pronounced lattice distortion and positive chemical strain. Unpoled Pb-BFMO films exhibit exceptional photovoltaic performance under 80 mW cm−2 illumination, achieving a short-circuit current density (|JSC|) of 192 μA cm−2 and an open-circuit voltage (|VOC|) of 0.525 V. This represents a 109-fold increase in intrinsic JSC and a fourfold enhancement in VOC compared to pure BFMO. The |JSC| demonstrates electric field tunability via polarization switching, reaching 320 μA cm−2 under negative polarization, the highest reported JSC for sub-100 nm single-layer ferroelectric films under white light. High-resolution high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy, synchrotron-based reciprocal space mapping and X-ray absorption spectroscopy analyses collectively confirm the coupling of crystal distortion, chemical strain, and valence state alterations. The synergy between chemical strain and ionic valence states effectively engineers the bandgap and enhances photovoltaic response, which unlocks new application pathways for perovskite materials in optical memory devices and sustainable energy systems.


Highlights:
1 A simple inequivalent substitution strategy modulates lattice distortion and element valence states, realizing a remarkable boost in ferroelectric photovoltaic performance under white light (|JSC| = 320 μA cm−2 after negative poling).
2 Synergistic integration of chemical strain and defect engineering yields high performance ferroelectric photovoltaic in double perovskite thin films.
3 Oxygen vacancies enable electric-field modulation of photovoltaic response in ferroelectric thin films by tuning the band gap and engineering the Schottky barrier.

Keywords

Chemical strain Defect engineering BiFeO3-based Ferroelectric photovoltaics Double perovskite
Wu, Yonghui, Jie Tu, Jing Xia, Xudong Liu, Longyuan Shi, Hangren Li, Menglin Li, Peng Chen, Qianqian Yang, Siyuan Du, Pengfei Song, Haiying Li, Qian Zhan, Xiaolong Li, Jianjun Tian, and Linxing Zhang. 2026. “Chemo-Strain Valence Engineering for Boosting Photovoltaic Response in Double Perovskite Epitaxial Films”. Nano-Micro Letters 18 (March):271. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-026-02105-y.
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