Quantifying the pyroelectric and photovoltaic coupling series of ferroelectric films

Chaosheng Hu; Xingyue Liu; Huiyu Dan; Chong Guo; Maoyi Zhang; Chris R Bowen; Ya Yang

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-56233-x

Quantifying the pyroelectric and photovoltaic coupling series of ferroelectric films

Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 18;16(1):828. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56233-x.

Authors

Chaosheng Hu^{1

2

3}, Xingyue Liu^{1

2}, Huiyu Dan¹, Chong Guo¹, Maoyi Zhang², Chris R Bowen⁴, Ya Yang^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101400, PR China.
² School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, PR China.
³ Information Science Academy, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, Beijing, 100042, PR China.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, BA2 7AK, UK.
⁵ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101400, PR China. yayang@binn.cas.cn.
⁶ School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, PR China. yayang@binn.cas.cn.

Abstract

The coupling of photovoltaic and pyroelectric effects is a common phenomenon in ferroelectric films and often results in coupling enhancements. Although the coupling effects of a variety of ferroelectric films have been examined in terms of improved performance, they have yet to be quantitatively ranked and assessed. Here, by taking the charge coupling factor, the Yang's charge, and output energy as metrics to evaluate the coupling performance, a methodology is developed for evaluating the performance of a range ferroelectric films when the pyroelectric and photovoltaic effects are coupled. By experimentally measuring and quantitatively ranking the evaluation metrics, the influence of coupling effects on the output charge and the energy harvesting capabilities of various ferroelectric films can be readily visualized. In addition, the analysis of the underlying reasons for the coupling enhancement enables optimization of the methods to quantify the charge coupling factor. This work provides a unique reference for the selection of materials, optimization of performance, and energy harvesting for coupled ferroelectric film-based generators.