Solar Energy

Solar Energy
Impact of charge-compensated Fe and Nb co-substitution on BaTiO3: bandgap and

grain size reduction and enhanced bulk photovoltaic power of Al/BFNT/Ag solar cell
--Manuscript Draft--
Manuscript Number: SEJ-D-22-03508R1
Article Type: Research paper
Section/Category: Photovoltaic materials, cells and systems
Keywords: Bandgap; Photocurrent; Open circuit voltage; Ferroelectric Photovoltaic
Corresponding Author: Sundarakannan B, Ph.D
INDIA
First Author: L. Venkidu
Order of Authors: L. Venkidu
N. Raja
Sundarakannan B, Ph.D
Abstract: The generation of above bandgap photovoltage using bulk ferroelectric materials has
become a subject of great interest, however, their photocurrent density is limited by a
broad bandgap and poor conductivity. To overcome this limitation, we replaced
aliovalent metal ions (Fe3+ and Nb5+) at the B-site of robust ferroelectric BaTiO3 and
fabricated an Al/BaTi 1-2x Fe x Nb x O3/Ag photovoltaic device. Both the experimental
and the theoretical studies showed that bandgap was lowered to ~2.55 eV and hence
absorption of wide energy range of the solar spectrum was attained. An apt top
electrode, reduced bandgap and domain size resulted in greater photocurrent density
of 1.46 μA/cm2 and photovoltage of 8.31 volts for Al/0.075BFNT/Ag solar cell in
unpoled condition. This research suggest that reduced band gap, mixed structural
phases and nano-sized domains suffices greatest PV power output while the large
polarization and poling are not necessary prerequisites.
Suggested Reviewers: Tansir Ahamad

King Saud University
tahamed@ksu.edu.sa
Duraisamy Kumaresan
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Amrita School of Engineering
k_duraisamy@cb.amrita.edu
Yunbin He
Hubei Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials
ybhe@hubu.edu.cn
Sarp Kaya
Koç University
sarpkaya@ku.edu.tr
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Cover Letter
30.12.2022
From
Dr. B. Sundarakannan
Professor
Department of Physics
Manonmaniam Sundaranar University
Tirunelveli -627 012, Tamil Nadu
India
E-mail:sundarakannan@msuni.ac.in
To
Ranga Pitchumani
Editor-in-Chief ,
Virginia Tech,
Falls Church, Virginia,
United States of America.
Sub.: Submission of a manuscript to Solar Energy -Reg.,

I am pleased to submit an original research manuscript with the title “Impact of
charge-compensated Fe and Nb co-substitution on BaTiO3: bandgap and grain size
reduction and enhanced of bulk photovoltaic power of Al/BFNT/Ag solar cell” by L.
Venkidu, N.Raja and B.Sundarakannan for publication in the “Solar Energy”. On behalf of all
the authors, I ensure that this manuscript is unpublished and not being considered for
publication elsewhere. All the authors have seen and approved the manuscript.
In this manuscript, we present the following; (i). Fe3+ and Nb5+ co-doped ferroelectric
photovoltaic solar cell does not exist experimentally. Therefore, we have selected wide
bandgap ferroelectric BaTiO3 ceramics and reduced its bandgap using aliovalent Fe3+ and Nb5+
ions substitution at B-site to fabricate a bulk ferroelectric photovoltaic device in the
Al/BFNT/Ag configuration. (ii) In particular, the bandgap of the Al/0.075BFNT/Ag device
was reduced to ~2.55 eV, which was confirmed by experimental and theoretical DFT
calculations. (iii) This study suggests that small band gap and reduced grain size are sufficient
for maximum bulk photovoltaic power generation (~ 12 μW/cm2), whereas substantial
polarization and poling are not essential factors.
Up to the author’s knowledge, enhancement of photovoltaic properties using Al/ BaTi1-
2xFexNbxO3/Ag device configuration has not yet been published. Under these circumstances,
we believe that this manuscript is suitable for publication in the "Solar Energy". In view of our
present new findings and the suitability of our conclusions to the scope of the Journal, we do
appeal to you to arrange for the review of the manuscript. Furthermore, we checked the
grammar and plagiarism in the manuscript using Grammarly and Turnitin software.
Thanking You
Yours faithfully
B. Sundarakannan
Detailed Response to Reviewers
Detailed response to the reviewers
To
Dr. Giribabu Lingamallu, Ph.D

Associate Editor
Solar Energy
Dear Sir,
Ref: SEJ-D-22-03508
Title of the manuscript: "Impact of charge-compensated Fe and Nb co-substitution on
BaTiO3: bandgap and grain size reduction and enhanced bulk photovoltaic power of
Al/BFNT/Ag solar cell"
Thank you so much for considering our manuscript and providing an opportunity for improving
the manuscript based on the important suggestions from the reviewers. We have revised the
manuscript as per the suggestions of the reviewers and also provided the required additional
details by the reviewers.
Herein the point-by-point responses to the comments raised by reviewers are provided.
Accordingly, the changes are carried out in the manuscript and are highlighted (yellow color)
in the revised manuscript.
Response to the Reviewer- 1
1. Literature survey reported in the manuscript on the (bulk) photovoltaic effect of ferroelectric
BaTiO3 is insufficient. The following key papers must be included.
i). A. Zenkevich et al. PHYSICAL REVIEW B 90, 161409(R) (2014), Doi:
10.1103/PhysRevB.90.161409
ii). Y. Liu et al. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2022, 13, 48, 11071-11075. Doi:
10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03194
iii) G. Baiju et al. Solar Energy, 2021, 224,93-101. DoI: 10.1016/j.solener.2021.05.063
iv) V. M. Fridkin, Ferroelectrics, 2015, 484, 1-13. DOI: 10.1080/00150193.2015.1059151
Response: Thank you for your suggestion. As per the reviewer’s suggestion, the above
papers were added in the revised manuscript and as reference number:7, 8, 9, and 18
respectively and are highlighted in the revised manuscript.
2. In the experimental section, a short and complete description of each experimental set-up
must be provided. In XPS and Raman analyses, ensure that the photon energy used in the
measurement is given. Give the source, detector, and resolution details. See that the fitting
parameters are given in detail, including the background. The choice of line shapes, line widths,
and deconvolution should be documented well. The type of analyzer and the geometry of the
measurement should be described. Finally, the software used in the analysis should be listed.
Errors in fitting parameters must be present.
Response: Thank you for your suggestion. As per the reviewer’s suggestion the details
of both the XPS and the Raman analyses were added in the experimental section. For
readability, the complete Experimental section is provided below and highlighted sentences are
newly introduced in the revised manuscript as per the reviewer’s suggestion.
Experimental section:
The bulk ceramics powder with the composition Ba(Ti1-2xFexNbx)O3 (BFNT) (x=0.0,
0.025, 0.05, 0.075) was fabricated by solid-state reaction method (SSR) and represented as BT,
0.025BFNT, 0.05BFNT and 0.075BFNT. The starting materials of BaCO3 (99.9%), TiO2
(99%), Fe2O3 (99.9%), and Nb2O5 (99.99%) were weighted according to the stoichiometry of
each composition. The mixed powder was ground using a mortar and pestle for 30 min. The
mixture was calcined at 950oC/5 hr in the air atmosphere for all compositions. The calcined
powder was mixed with a binder of PVA, (polyvinyl alcohol) by manual granulation in a
mortar. The uniaxially compressed pellets are 13 mm in diameter and 1 mm thick under 7-ton
weight. The pellets were sintered at 300oC/1hr to remove the PVA and then sintered at
1300oC/2hr in a furnace. Room temperature X-ray diffraction measurements were carried out
using λ= 0.9654 Å the angle-dispersive X-ray diffraction (ADXRD) at the beamline-12
installed in Indus-2 synchrotron source RRCAT Indore, India. The FT-Raman spectrometer
(Bruker, RFS 27) was used to probe the structural phases of the samples. The instrument is
equipped with an Nd: YAG laser (1064 nm) as a source and an InGaAs detector (1024 × 256).
It has a resolution of 2 cm-1. The measured data were fitted with the Lorentz function using
Origin software (version:8.5) and fitting parameters such as peak position and line width were
added in supporting information. To determine the bandgap of the samples, a diffuse
reflectance spectrophotometer (DRS) (UV 2400 Schimadzu) was used. The silver paste was
applied on both sides of the polished pellets for measuring the room temperature polarization-
electric field (P-E loop) hysteresis loops using a Precision ferroelectric tester system (Radian
technologies P-E loop tracer). The PHI - VERSAPROBE III is an advanced instrument that
was used to obtain X-ray photoelectronic spectra. It features a multichannel detector and
monochromatic Al-Kα source with an energy of 1486.6 eV, providing excellent resolution
ranging from 0.1 to 40 eV for sample analysis and characterization. The peaks background
were subtracted for more accuracy in peak fitting, then the Gaussian function was used to fit
each elemental XPS peak with Origin software (version: 8.5) and the parameters were included
in supporting information. The Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer Quantax 200 with X
Flash® 6130 was used for EDX and mapping studies. The photovoltaic measurements were
done using Sol3A Class AAA solar simulator with Keithley electrometer (2400) measuring
setup.
3. In XRD, Fig 1 (a), Each peak index must be visible clearly, and the font size must be large
enough to avoid obscurity

Response: Thank you for your suggestion. As per the reviewer’s suggestion, the peak index
and font size of the text in fig.1 were increased to 14 from 10 changes for clear visibility in
the manuscript.
4. On Page 9, line 29, where denotes the <Ti-O-Ti bond angle calculated… must be defined
unambiguously in words
Response: Thank you for your suggestion. As per the reviewer’s suggestion. This point is
addressed in the revised manuscript in the following way:
180−𝜃
𝜃𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑡 = 2
where 𝜃 is the angle between two Ti4+ ions in adjacent unit cells bonded with a face-
centered oxygen ion (Ti4+-O2--Ti4+).
5. In Equation 2, the symbols do not have clear superscripts and subscripts, making it vague
Response: Thank you for your suggestion. As per the reviewer’s suggestion the
equation (2) is rewritten as given below in the revised manuscript.

6
1 𝛿𝑛 − < 𝛿 > 2
∆𝑜𝑐𝑡 = ∑ [ ]
6 <𝛿>
𝑖=1
where 𝛿𝑛 and < 𝛿 > denote the individual and average interatomic metal-oxygen bond
length.
6. In the XPS survey scan spectra of samples, a significant shift in the C1s peaks is seen. Why?
Response: Thank you for your question we provide the following answer. The presence
of a ubiquitous carbon (C1s) peak in carbon-free samples is due to atmospheric carbon
contamination on sample surfaces. As per the reviewer’s suggestion, in the magnified view
(attached here) C-1s peak was observed at ~283.07, ~283.14 and ~ 283.2 for BT, 0.025BFNT
and 0.075BFNT samples respectively which is consistent with recent research publication
(https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03900-y). However, no significant shift was observed in

the peak position of C-1s but there was a noticeable shoulder peak associated with barium
carbonate species (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03900-y).
7. On page 15, line 16., short-circuit current density increased under increasing the substitution
and achieved 8.31 V …..The large Voc (i.eVoc>Eg) justifies that it is an anomalous
photovoltaic effect…..This is not an uncommon observation, as claimed. There has been a
wealth of reports available on this effect.
Response: Thank you for your suggestion. We agree that many ferroelectric materials
exhibit photovoltage greater than bandgap and for example in the following reports, the
photovoltage is greater. We provide the following answer. Many bulk ferroelectric materials
exhibited an abnormal photovoltaic effect, which is frequently reported
(https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5088635, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.044007,
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-26205-x). However, as mentioned in the introduction

section, the main difficulty of bulk ferroelectric photovoltaics (BFPV) is that they achieve a
very low output short-circuit current density in the range of pA/cm2 to nA/cm2
(https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-26205-x, https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c10655,
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5088635). Also, the key focus of the present work is to improve both
the Jsc and Voc of the BFPV device simultaneously, and we have achieved an impressive result
that the Jsc reached micro Ampere (μA/cm2) while a large open circuit voltage was retained.
Moreover, from fig. S6, the output power (Jsc×Voc) of the device was substantially higher than
that of several BFPV reports (Table S7).
8. An EDX mapping/spectrum of grains observed in SEM images must be provided in the
microscopic analysis
Response: Thank you for your suggestion. As per the reviewer’s suggestion, the EDX
mapping and spectrum were taken for all the samples and included in the supplementary as fig.
S6 (a, b, c, d) and discussed in the microstructure analysis portion of the supporting
information. As per the reviewer’s suggestion, this point is addressed in the manuscript in the
following way:
This study utilized EDX spectrum and elemental mapping analysis to confirm the presence of
Ba, Ti, and O elements in pure BT as shown in fig. S6 (a). Further, the expected amount of Ba,
Ti, Fe, Nb and O were found to be present in aliovalent substituted samples as illustrated by
fig. S6 (b-d), with atomic percentage for each element demonstrated by table S4 . The EDX
mapping results indicated a homogeneous distribution of all the ions across all samples. It was
also noted that substituted ions such as Fe3+ and Nb5+ are also homogeneously spread out in
0.05BFNT and 0.075BFNT.

Response to the Reviewer- 2
1. I'm wondering how did you relax your structures? Was that stepwise or +U correction and
SOC effect were included from beginning of all relaxations? It seems for 136 atoms it most be
very costly.
Response: Thank you for your question and suggestion to improve the clarity of the
manuscript. We start the DFT calculations by using the experimental cell parameters of the
cubic BFNT. A 3×3×3 supercell was used, with four Ti atoms replaced randomly by two Fe-
Nb pairs to represent Ba(Ti1-2xFexNbx)O3 (BFNT) (x=0.075). To take into account the strong
correlation of Fe atom, we have carried out the ionic relaxation calculation by using GGA + U
method with U= 1-5 eV (U is on-site Coulomb interaction), and the SOC effect was also
considered from the beginning for all the calculations. The choice of this methodology is based
on the previously published reports (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.085122;
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.87.214110
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.57.1505).
Later the possible combinations of the dopants sites based on the dopant-dopant distance
(explained in Q. No 2) were identified and the ionic relaxation calculations were carried out as
explained above. Even though the computation is expensive, the quality of the results is reliable
(The calculations were carried out by using HEMERA 4 clusters, HZDR (Helmholtz-Zentrum
Dresden-Rossendorf), Germany, and NANDADEVI clusters in Institute of Mathematical
Science, Taramani, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.
2. For doping possibilities I think it's more accurate to run a simple first and second neighbor
analysis of X-sites to figure out number of possibilities and then reduce them by doping-doping
distance criteria. I've checked also the figures of replaced sites which were not really clear how
they are only possible choices. I recommend to add a convincing paragraph that those
replacement are only possible configurations.
Response: We begin the calculations by taking the experimental cell parameters of the
cubic BFNT and replacing four Ti atoms with two Fe-Nb pairs to reflect the composition,
Ba(Ti1-2xFexNbx)O3 (BFNT) (x=0.075). We are well aware that larger supercells are needed for
calculations of this kind to take into consideration substituted systems, but as the number of
atoms in these supercells rises, the size of the supercell can be restricted to a 3×3×3 supercell.
Therefore we limit ourselves to only considering the first and second neighbor distance as the
criteria, to find the minimum energy configuration of the composition. Within the 3×3×3
supercell, twelve different configurations of particularly substituted systems are feasible
according to permutations.
𝑛!
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑛𝑃𝑟 =
(𝑛 − 𝑟)!
where n and r represents the total number of lattice sites used for doping and number of type
of atoms replaced.
Initially, the dopants were randomly placed in the nearest neighbor sites of the supercell
and it was discovered that the lattice sites around the dopants were slightly distorted around
the dopant cites, exhibiting tetragonal symmetry rather than cubic symmetry. Among those,
the non-symmetrical arrangements cause very large tetragonal distortions within and around
the dopant sites, such as two Fe ions and one Nb ion in the ac-plane and only one Nb ion along
the b-axis. According to previously published literature results, such larger distortions lead to
widening the energy bandgap of the BFNT (https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c10655).
Taking this into consideration, four similar configurations were ignored in the calculations.
Therefore, the remaining eight symmetrically non-degenerate configurations, as illustrated in
Fig. S3 (Supporting Information), were taken only considered to reflect the composition,
Ba(Ti1-2xFexNbx)O3 (BFNT) (x=0.075). It turns out that configuration 2 (as shown in Fig. S3
and Table S5), with the two Fe dopant ions positioned as the first nearest and Fe-Nb positioned
as the second nearest neighbor, is the lowest energy or ground state. Further, the DOS
calculation was done only for that configuration 2 by using HSE hybrid functional.
3. In section 3.5, regrading PDOS results why really by additional Fe, contribution of O-2p
reduces so drastically at VB and Ti-3d contribution increases? Furthermore, does that might
cause decrease of polarity you have reported? I recommend to add a short description about
this here.
Response: The author would like to thank the reviewer for the suggestion regarding
section 3.5 (fig. 5(d)), where the green solid line was incorrectly used for Fe-3d and the blue
solid line for O-2p. After checking the plots again, it is found that these labels had been
mistakenly interchanged and this mistake is now rectified in a revised version of Figure 5(d)
(attached below), which has also been added to the revised manuscript. We ensured that all the
graphs are correct now after rechecking. From fig. 5(d), the PDOS analysis shows that Ti-3d
is much lower in VB than O-2p upon metal substitution. This is consistent with pure BT.
As per the reviewer’s suggestion, the contribution of Fe & Nb in VB & CB are
addressed in the manuscript in the following way: For the sake of the readability for the
reviewer, the whole paragraph is given below where newly added lines are highlighted. “It is
remarkable to notice from fig. 5(d) that on metal substitution at B-site, the Ti-3d and O-2p
orbital still dominate the CB minimum and VB maximum of the BFNT respectively. With
increasing substitution level to x=0.075, the formation of new 3d states of Fe and Nb was
observed at both the valence and conduction bands as shown in fig. 5(d). The PDOS in Fig.
5(d) shows the hybridization of Fe ion 3d-states with BT host electronic states, close to the
valence band maximum. The incorporation of Fe-3d states localized in VB has resulted in
stronger hybridization with the O-2p state near the valance band edge than that observed for
Ti–O hybridization. HSE calculations clearly show the formation of new states at the top of the
valence band edge with predominant Fe 3d character, which primarily decreases bandgap.
Additionally, strong d–d interaction between Ti–3d and Fe/Nb – d state at top of VB has led to
the accumulation of carriers near bottom CB as well as top VB edges. Also, the contribution
of lower Fe-3d (~ -7.2 to -6.7 eV) state increases the width of VB from ~ -4.75 eV (i.e. BT) to
~ -8 eV as shown in fig. S4. Such enhancement is beneficial for the mobility of the
photogenerated charge carriers within the material system as from an earlier report
(https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/823498). On the other hand, fig. 5(d), the substitution of Fe and
Nb in BFNT results in the hybridization of Nb–O and Fe-O at the conduction band, which
effectively separates the photogenerated electron-hole pair
(https://doi.org/10.1080/00150193.2018.1528958). Furthermore, this hybridization between
Fe-3d and Nb-3d with O-2p pushes the CB minimum towards lower energy levels resulting in
the significant reduction of the conduction band edge from 3.26 to 2.49 eV, as shown in Fig.
5(d) in the reason for minimizing the photoexcitation energy of charge carriers. The red shift
of CBM combined with an increase in mobility of photogenerated charge carriers along VB
due to Fe–O & Nb–O in BFNT leads to the expectation of improvement in photocurrent
density”.
Furthermore, does that might cause decrease of polarity you have reported? I recommend to
add a short description about this here.
Response: The study shows that the ferroelectric polarization and bandgap of the
samples are directly connected with the BO6 (Ti/Fe/Nb-O6) octahedra. The octahedral tilt was
suppressed due to metal doping, leading to a cubic phase. According to the theoretical
investigation, hybridization among Ti-3d0 and O-2p is responsible for off-center ion
displacement which results in larger ferroelectric polarization and wider bandgap in pure BT.
Furthermore, B cation off-center displacements have been reported to enhance the antibonding
character of conduction bands (CB), thus widening the band gap in the tetragonal phase as per
earlier reports (http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1 .4871707). Metal substitution leads to stronger
hybridization of non-d0-Fe3+ and O 2p resulting in reduced tilt angle along with decreased
antibonding character which leads to narrow bandgap; also it reduces the off-center
displacement due to localized Fe orbital resulting in lower polarization observed in BFNT
samples.
4. Regarding the last point, Ti-d doesn't need to be U correction? As its d orbital contribution
at VB becomes important.
Response: Thank you for your question. Based on the earlier estimations in the
literature, we didn’t consider the U correction for Ti ion (
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.87.214110;
https://doi.org/10.1039/D1TC01868J;
DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/124/27005). Further for DOS calculations, hybrid functional
calculations were carried out, since it is well known to overcome the shortcomings of the GGA
pseudopotentials (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.78.104116;
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.8b00492). As per the Fe-ion is concerned one needs to
find the ground state accurately to find the band gap value in the match with the experimental
results so the U term is only considered for Fe ion.
5.Separated Figures and captions were hard to reach. Figures caption are also needed to be
completed, please include all details that one can understand them independently. The quality
of figures, at least in this version, is not good enough
Response: Thank you for your suggestion. As per the reviewer’s suggestion, the quality
of figure are improved and the detailed figure captions were added to the manuscript as well
as in the supporting information.

Marked Revised Manuscript Click here to view linked References
Impact of charge-compensated Fe and Nb co-substitution on BaTiO3: bandgap and grain
size reduction and enhanced of bulk photovoltaic power of Al/BFNT/Ag solar cell
L.Venkidua, N. Rajaa&b and B.Sundarakannana*
a Department of Physics, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Abishekapatti, Tirunelveli-
627012, Tamil Nadu, India.
b The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, C.I.T. Campus, Taramani, Chennai 600113, India.
Corresponding author: sundarakannan@msuniv.ac.in
Abstract
The generation of above bandgap photovoltage using bulk ferroelectric materials has
become a subject of great interest, however, their photocurrent density is limited by a broad
bandgap and poor conductivity. To overcome this limitation, we replaced aliovalent metal ions
(Fe3+ and Nb5+) at the B-site of robust ferroelectric BaTiO3 and fabricated an Al/BaTi1-
2xFexNbxO3/Ag photovoltaic device. Both the experimental and the theoretical studies showed
that bandgap was lowered to ~2.55 eV and hence absorption of wide energy range of the solar
spectrum was attained. An apt top electrode, reduced bandgap and domain size resulted in
greater photocurrent density of 1.46 μA/cm2 and photovoltage of 8.31 volts for
Al/0.075BFNT/Ag solar cell in unpoled condition. This research suggest that reduced band
gap, mixed structural phases and nano-sized domains suffices greatest PV power output while
the large polarization and poling are not necessary prerequisites.
Keywords: Bandgap, Photocurrent, Open circuit voltage, Ferroelectric Photovoltaic
1 Introduction:
Photovoltaic solar energy is obtained by converting sunlight into electricity using a p-
n junction based on the semiconductors [1]. Photovoltaic (PV) technology is playing a

significant role in modern industry to alleviate the energy crisis. Traditional junction-based
solar cell technology is widely used, though the raw material of silicon (Si) is relatively high
price and the fabrication process requires so sophisticated technology. The output voltage in
semiconductor based material is limited by their bandgap and the power conversion efficiency
(PCE) depends on the complicated interfaces of PV devices. Conversely, non-centrosymmetric
bulk ferroelectric materials proficiently separate electron-hole pairs through their internal
electric field originating from the spontaneous polarization represented as the bulk photovoltaic
effect (BPV) [2, 3]. BPV devices are not limited by the bandgap and therefore produce a larger
photovoltage (anomalous photovoltaic effect) than traditional junction-based PV devices [2‒
4]. In recent times, bulk ferroelectric polycrystalline photovoltaics have attracted special
attention because of their low cost, good stability, facile fabrication of the device, and high
photovoltage [2‒5]. The main drawback of ferroelectric ceramics is their low power
conversation efficiency (PCE) mainly due to their low photocurrent density under light which
is related to their low conductivity [2, 3, 5]. Therefore, how to simultaneously enhance the
photocurrent and photovoltage of bulk ferroelectric ceramics and thereby power conversion
efficiency becomes an important issue to pushing forward the practically realizable application
of the ferroelectric photovoltaic device. Recent research focused on the BPV effect in various
ferroelectric systems such as ferroelectric ceramics [2-5], single crystals [6, 7] thin films [8, 9,
10], polymers [11], organic and inorganic ferroelectric composites [12]. Recent research has
proposed explanations for the BPV with various models such as domain wall theory [13],
ballistic model [2], shift-current model [14], interface effect (Schottky- junction effect) [15]
electrode, and depolarization field effect [16]. Considering the above models, ferroelectric
materials with relatively small bandgaps and large polarizations are promising candidates for
photovoltaic applications because the materials can absorb large amounts of the solar spectrum
while simultaneously separating charge carriers.

In this regard, BaTiO3 (BT) is considered one of the promising eco-friendly
ferroelectric perovskite materials with off-center distortions from its centrosymmetric position
and large spontaneous polarization arising from the strong hybridization among the lowest
unoccupied Ti4+-d0 state and O-2p state at room temperature [17, 2]. However, pristine
ferroelectric BT can only be able to absorb the ultraviolet (UV) region of the solar spectrum
due to its wide bandgap (3.2 eV) [14, 17, 18]. Only 3.5% of solar radiation is encompassed by
UV light (wavelength 200‒390 nm) yet visible light accounts for 40% of solar energy
(wavelength 390-700 nm) [5]. Therefore, constructing a ferroelectric BPV device with a
narrow bandgap (Eg) is an essential factor for absorbing abundant light and maintaining
ferroelectricity. Recent studies have focused on substituting ions at A-site and/or partially
occupied non-d0 ions at the B-site of BT, as a way to reduce its bandgap as well as to control
ferroelectric properties. In this regard, a large short-circuit current density of Jsc=7.51 μA/cm2
was obtained with A-site Sr-doped BT, but it didn’t induce anomalous photovoltage (Voc<1.5
V i.e. Eg = 3.04 eV) [19]. However, the maximum Voc of about 16 V was attained by BT co-
doping with Bi and Li ions at the A-site, but the determined photocurrent was within the range
of nano ampere [14]. Kola et al. achieved a large Voc of 16 V with a single substitution on B-
site as Ag/BaTi1-xSnxO3/Ag PV device based on the shift current model, but the current density
was very low around ~2 nA/cm2 range [2]. However, there have been only a few reports on the
effect of co-substitution on the B-site of bulk ferroelectric photovoltaic materials up to now.
For example, L.Wu et al. reported that Ni2+ and Nb5+ co-doped (0.9)BaTiO3‐
(0.1)Ba(Ni1/2Nb1/2)O2.75 provided a decreased bandgap of ~1.5 eV and maintained remnant
polarization ~5 μC/cm2 with obtained steady-state current of 8 nA/cm2 [20]. In contrast to other
transition metal pair substitutions (such as Mg3+-Nb-5+, Co3+-Nb5+, and Sc3+-Nb5+), the Fe3+-
Nb5+ pair at the B-site of BT has little effect on the bandgap reduction, and the significant
suppression in ferroelectricity is be expected to reduce the photovoltaic properties of BT and
decrease the device performance [21, 22]. However, there is a lack of experimental evidence.
Also, it has been noted that in conventional electrode/ferroelectric/electrode
architecture, the net build-in electric field (Ebi) of the top and bottom metal electrodes can form
two back-to-back Schottky barriers that deplete the electrode-ferroelectric interface [15, 23].
From the prior reports, lowering the height of the Schottky barrier with a low-work function
metal electrode can induce a large photovoltaic effect of the device [15, 23]. Therefore, by
choosing a suitable configuration of electrodes in contact with ferroelectric materials, the
photocurrents and photo-generated voltage of the device may also be enhanced. In this regard,
aluminium (Al) and silver (Ag) electrodes have been selected as the top and bottom electrodes
respectively, for our PV device. Considering that as a scope, we used a ferroelectric material
such as BaTiO3 to provide the bandgap reduction, enhance photocurrent, photovoltage and
maintaining ferroelectricity through charge-neutral chemical co-substitution of aliovalent Fe3+
and Nb5+ at B-site with an asymmetrical electrode architecture. Both Nb5+ and Fe3+ perform a
typical charge compensator and bandgap reducers respectively, with strong photo response,
high electron mobility, reduced recombination loss, easy crystallization, controlled oxygen
vacancies and good candidates in the ferroelectric photovoltaic system. In particular, the
reduction of the bandgap from 3.2 eV to 2.55 eV and enhanced photocurrent density of 1.46
µA/cm2 have been achieved with Al/0.075BFNT/Ag device, which is larger than that of the
Ag/BBLT/Ag [17] and Ag/BST/Ag photovoltaic cells [2]. We perform theoretical
computations to further envisage our experimental results and to find the reason for the
bandgap reduction.
2 Experimental procedure
The bulk ceramics powder with the composition Ba(Ti1-2xFexNbx)O3 (BFNT) (x=0.0
equipped with a Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) as a source and an InGaAs detector (1024 × 256). It
has a resolution of 2 cm-1. The measured data was fitted with Lorentz function using Origin
software (version:8.5) and fitting parameters such as peak position and line width were added
in supporting information. To determine the bandgap of the samples, a diffuse reflectance
spectrophotometer (DRS) (UV-2400 Schimadzu) was used. The silver paste was applied on
both sides of the polished pellets for measuring the room temperature polarization-electric field
(P-E loop) hysteresis loops using a Precision ferroelectric tester system (Radian technologies
P-E loop tracer). The PHI - VERSAPROBE III is an advanced instrument that was used to
obtain X-ray photoelectronic spectra. It features a multichannel detector and monochromatic
Al-Kα source with energy of 1486.6 eV, providing excellent resolution ranging from 0.1 to 40
eV for sample analysis and characterization. The peaks background were subtracted for more
accuracy in peak fitting, then the Gaussian function was used to fit each elemental XPS peaks
with Origin software (version: 8.5) and the parameters were included in supporting
information. The Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer Quantax 200 with X Flash® 6130 was
used for EDX and mapping studies. The photovoltaic measurements were done using Sol3A
Class AAA solar simulator with Keithley electrometer (2400) measuring setup.
2.1 Device fabrication
The PV studies were conducted on the cell configuration of Al/BFNT/Ag, where Al
and Ag are the top and bottom electrodes, respectively. BFNT pellets were mirror polished and
thickness of 0.5mm, diameter of 11mm and area of pellets of ~0.95 cm 2. For photovoltaic
measurements, Aluminium (Al) electrode was coated on the top surface of the sample (0.1-mm
thickness of shadow mask) and bottom surface was covered with silver (Ag) electrode using a
thermal evaporation technique with heating the samples at 400oC/30min. Ag paste was used to
connect the electrodes and copper wire for the photovoltaic experiment.
2.2 Computational Details
Density functional theory (DFT) simulations were performed to understand the
substantial decrease in the measured bandgap value of BFNT samples. Calculations were
carried out on a 3×3×3 supercell of 135 atoms using the projector augmented wave (PAW)
[24] method as implemented in the Vienna Ab Initio Simulation Package (VASP) [25]. The
generalized gradient approximation (GGA) [26] was used to depict the exchange and
correlations of electrons. A Monkhorst pack scheme [27] k-points mesh was set to 2×2×2, and
a plane wave energy cut-off of 520 eV was chosen. To account for any possible strong
correlation GGA +U approach was employed, with U = 4 eV for the 3d-orbitals of the Fe-ions
[28]. Since GGA functionals tend to underestimate the bandgap values for most materials, HSE
hybrid functional is used on optimized structures to compute the density of states (DOS) [22,
32]. DOS was sampled with 3×3×3 k-mesh and Gaussian smearing of 0.1 eV.
3 Results and discussion:
3.1 Synchrotron Angle Dispersive X-ray diffraction (ADXRD)
The synchrotron X-ray diffraction patterns of BT, 0.025BFNT, 0.05BFNT and
0.075BFNT samples were measured at room temperature and are shown in fig. 1(a). No
impurity phase was observed in all samples. Peak indexed for ceramics samples agrees with
recently reported BFNT [30, 31], which has a perovskite cubic phase with space group Pm3̅m
because of an increase in co-substitution. The gradual decrement in the (200)pc peak splitting
is evidence as seen in the enlarged view in fig 1(b). The two-phase model was confirmed for
BT samples from synchrotron ADXRD is consistent with laboratory X-ray diffraction
described in our prior study [31, 32], the two-phases of the BT sample are tetragonal (P4mm)
and orthorhombic (Amm2).
The Rietveld analysis program Jana2006 package [33] was used for crystal structure
refinement. Rietveld refinement parameters for specified space groups are the lattice
parameters, atomic coordinates, atomic occupancies, scale factor, 2θ zero shift, 36-degree
Legendre polynomials for background and pseudo-Voigt line shape with asymmetry. As per
the nominal composition of the perovskite ABO3 structure, the A site atomic occupancy is Ba,
and the B site atomic occupancy is Ti/(Fe & Nb). Figure 1 (c) and 1 (d) show the Rietveld
refinement fit of the synchrotron ADXRD pattern of pure BT using a single-phase model,
tetragonal (P4mm) and two-phase model tetragonal (P4mm) + orthorhombic (Amm2)
respectively. The goodness of fit (χ2) parameters for the P4mm and P4mm+Amm2 models are
χ2=5.71 and 4.71, respectively. The poor fit or misfits (Bragg position, peak shape, intensities)
could not be improved satisfactorily, as shown in the insets of fig. 1(c) [indicated by circle]. In
contrast, P4mm and Amm2 two-phase models could well account for the Bragg profiles, peak
position, and intensities. Fig. 1(d) illustrates the excellent fit in an enlarged view of (111)pc and
(200)pc for the two-phase model. Synchrotron ADXRD patterns of co-substituted BT, depicted
in fig. 1(e)-(g), were refined with P4mm (T) and Pm3̅m (C) structural models which conform
with earlier reports [30, 31]. Rietveld refined structural parameters such as lattice parameter,
volume, c/a, atomic position, R-factor (wRp), phase fraction (%wt), and goodness of fit (χ2) of
BFNT (x=0.0, 0.025, 0.05, and 0.75) samples are listed in table S1. The ratios of phase
percentage of P4mm and Pm3̅m crystal structure are 85.3:14.7, 76.7:23.3 and 41.5:58.5 for x=
0.025, 0.05, and 0.075 respectively. The mixed phase structures of BT and BFNT samples were
then verified by Raman spectroscopy as shown in Fig. S1(a–d), and a detailed description is
given in the Supporting Information.
According to Vegard’s law [34], the lattice constant of the cubic unit cell increases with
the concentration of substitution ions, as shown in table S1. Also, the volume of the cubic
lattice increases with x due to larger ionic radii (rFe3+=64.5 pm and rNb5+= 64 pm) in weight
compared to the host radius Ti (rTi4+= 60.5 pm). The c/a ratio of the tetragonal unit cell
constantly drops with increasing x, which can be attributed to the aliovalent replacement ions
such as Fe3+ and Nb5+ at the Ti4+ site that induces an internal stress field in BT ceramics. The
structural phase transition originated from this internal stress field by the broken Ti-O
hybridization. The change in lattice parameters and the volume of the unit cell is associated
with oxygen-octahedral tilting and distortion of octahedra. The change in lattice parameters
and the volume of the unit cell is associated with the oxygen-octahedral tilting and distortion
of octahedra. The oxygen-octahedral tilt can be determined by the equation given below [35,
36]:
180−𝜃
𝜃𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑡 = (1)
2
centered oxygen ion (Ti4+-O2--Ti4+). The octahedral tilting of BT compared with

0.075BFNT is illustrated in fig.2(a) and (b). Also, the octahedral distortion can be estimated
by the following relation [35]:

6
1 𝛿𝑛 − < 𝛿 > 2
∆𝑜𝑐𝑡 = ∑ [ ]
6 <𝛿>
𝑖=1
(2)
where 𝛿𝑛 and < 𝛿 > denote the individual and average interatomic metal-oxygen bond length.
With increasing substitution at the B-site, the structure of BFNT ceramics is closer to pseudo-
cubic with reducing octahedral tilting and distortion from table S2. The decreasing octahedra
tilt could affect the bandgap of the samples.
3.2 X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
To investigate the electronic states of each element in BaTi1-2xFexNbxO3, the X-ray
photoelectronic spectra were recorded. The detailed survey and core-level spectra of Ba and Ti
for BT, 0.025BFNT and 0.075BFNT are discussed in the supporting information (fig. S2). Fig.
3(a) denotes that the binding energy of the Ti-2p spectrum shifted into a lower energy level
with increasing substitution. This can be attributed to the local electric field. This local electric
field induced to decrease in the bandgap of the ferroelectric material [37]. As a result, the
lowering bandgap influenced the intermediate charge transfer, thus can suppress the resistivity
of the material.
Fig. 3(b) illustrates the asymmetric nature of core-level Fe-3d spectra of 0.025BFNT
and 0.075BFNT and it can be split into Fe-2p3/2 and Fe2p1/2 spin states. For 0.025BFNT, the
XPS spectra can be deconvoluted into the characteristic peaks of Fe2+ and Fe3+ assigned to ~
708.8 eV, ~713.7 eV and ~ 710.8 eV, 722.06 eV, respectively. The absence of Fe2+ peaks in
0.075BFNT indicates the suppression of the oxygen vacancies. Additionally, the satellite peaks
around ~718.12 eV and 720.1 eV were also found in fig 3(b). These results are matched with
previous literature [37, 38]. The absence of doublet peaks around 719.9 eV and 706.7 eV
indicates that the substituted iron (Fe) is ionized and not metallic [39]. The photoelectronic
spectra around ~204.3 eV and ~208.3 eV represent the Nb-3d5/2 and Nb-3d3/2 states
respectively, were seen in fig. 3(c) for 0.025BFNT and 0.075BFNT samples. The oxidized state
of Nb is 5+ for these peaks.
The core-level spectra of O-1s of BT, 0.025BFNT and 0.075BFNT are shown in fig.
3(d). The O(I), O(II), and O(III) spectra represent the lattice oxygen bonding with Ti/Fe/Nb,
oxygen vacancies, and adsorbed oxygen is assigned at ~529 eV, ~531 eV, and ~533 eV
respectively. The binding energy and area under the fitting curve of O(I), O(II), and O(III) are
listed in table 1, where the area of the oxygen vacancy tends to decrease with increasing
substitution. This results from the simultaneous doping of donor (Nb5+) and acceptor (Fe3+) at
the B-site can neutralize the charge carriers and avoid the oxygen vacancies [40]. The reaction
can be written using Kroger-Vink notation as follows;
′ •
𝐹𝑒2 𝑂3 + 𝑁𝑏2 𝑂3 → 2𝐹𝑒𝑇𝑖 + 2𝑁𝑏𝑇𝑖 + 6𝑂𝑜 (3)
Hence, the samples are obeying the following condition of charge neutrality [41]
∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝐴𝑖 𝑛𝐴𝑖 + ∑𝑛𝑘=1 𝑥𝐵𝑖 𝑛𝐵𝑖 = 6 (4)
where, 𝑥𝐴𝑖 , 𝑥𝐵𝑖 (for x= 0.0, 0.025, 0.05 and 0.075) are the fractions of ions and 𝑛𝐴𝑖 , 𝑛𝐵𝑖 are the
valances of ions (Ba-2+, Ti-4+, Fe-3+, Nb-5+) at the A & B sites, respectively.
3.3 Hysteresis loop
To find the impact on ferroelectricity under B-site substitution of BT ceramics, the
Polarization-Electric field (P-E) hysteresis loop was measured at room temperature with a 30
kV/cm applied field, as shown in fig. 4. The shape of the P-E hysteresis loop tends to be
unsaturated with increasing metal substitution. The parameters such as remnant polarization
(Pr), spontaneous polarization (Ps), and coercive field (Ec) were decreased with increasing x as
in fig.4. It was suggested in the literature that the reduction of ferroelectricity upon metal
doping due to the formation of oxygen vacancies leads to an increase in the leakage current in
ferroelectric samples [32]. However, in the current study, the production of oxygen vacancies
is strongly restricted by the charge compensator Nb5+ which is further validated by the XPS
results of the Fe-2p and O-1s spectra. Therefore, the ferroelectricity in BT ceramics was
suppressed by the following features. The origin of local polarization in BaTiO3 ceramics can
be attributed to the off-center displacement of d0 Ti-ion about the oxygen octahedral cage. The
inclusion of bigger-size ions helps reduce the octahedral distortion and leads to suppressing the
Ti-O off-center displacement of BT ceramics. According to modern ferroelectric theories, the
partially occupied transition metal d-ion replaced at Ti-site supports centrosymmetric and
therefore simultaneously reduces the off-center distortion needed for ferroelectricity [42, 43].
The following theoretical calculations demonstrate the proof that the non-d0 Fe3+ state perturbs
both the valence and conduction band of BFNT materials. Therefore, the ferroelectricity of BT
was destabilized by the alterations in the hybridization of Ti-3d to O-2p orbital. These results
are consistent with the structural discussions and indicate that the ferroelectricity was
suppressed by co-substitution.
3.4 Bandgap
The DRS was used to investigate the optical characteristics of BT and metal-substituted
BT in the wavelength region of 200-900 nm as shown in fig. 5 (a). Fig 5 (a) illustrates the
absorbance spectra of the samples; in which all the substituted samples exhibit a shoulder
around ~400-500 nm (encircled region) and its absorbance increases along with x and it
broadens toward lower energy ranges. The bandgap energy of BT and BFNT samples can be
estimated using the Tauc plot as shown in fig. 5(b) and listed in table 2. The optical bandgap
of pure BT (3.25 eV) decreases with increasing metal substitution at the B-site. According to
previous studies, the valence band (VB) is assigned to the O-2p orbital and that of the
conduction band (CB) to the Ti-3d0 orbital in pure BaTiO3 [44], which generates a bandgap
energy of 3.25 eV. Meanwhile, non-d0 metals like Fe3+ replaced on the B-site might affect the
electronic band structure due to the anisotropic crystal fields of the octahedron created by the
metal-oxygen interactions [45]. In this context, the Fe/Ti/Nb could be treated as a point charge,
and their spatial arrangement affects the energy of the d-orbital of the central metal atom.
According to crystal field theory, a partially occupied 3d orbital in an octahedral crystal field
is divided into two eg orbitals and three t2g orbitals [2]. This field causes eg to evolve into one
high energy state (dx2-dy2) and one low energy state (dz2), whereas t2g evolves into one high
energy state (dxy) and two low energy levels (dzy and dzx) [45, 46]. As a result, the existence of
the 3d state between CB and VB with Fe3+ ions is indicated by the inter-band transition from
dz2 to dx2-dy2. Previous reports suggested that the large electronegativity difference between
metal and oxygen can induce a larger bandgap in perovskite materials [46, 47]. Here, the
electronegativity difference of Nb-O (1.84) and Fe-O (1.61) is much less than that of Ti-O
(1.9), therefore the reduced bandgap of BFNT largely depends on Fe3+ metal ion.
The d-orbital metal ions and the p-orbital of oxygen ions can be defined using the linear
combination of atomic orbitals model (LCAO). If the density of the state is deemed constant,
the following equations show that the probability of an average d-orbital mixing (rd) in the
valence band can be calculated based on the bandgap (Eg) and bandwidth (EB) [48, 40];
1 𝜂
𝑟𝑑 = 2 + 2(1−𝜂) ln(𝜂) × 100 (5)
where 𝜂 means the covalent mixing and it lies between 0 and 1. The value of 𝜂 can be
determined by the following equation:
𝐸𝑔
𝜂 = 2𝐸 (6)
𝐵
From table 2 𝜂 values tend to be small with increasing metal substitution indicating the strong
covalent mixing.
The value of EB is found from the equation below:
𝐸𝑔 2
𝐸𝐵 = √( 2 ) + 8(𝑝𝑑𝜋)2 (7)
For perovskite samples, the value of 𝑝𝑑𝜋 =1 eV [45] and the calculated𝐸𝐵 , 𝜂 and 𝑟𝑑 are listed
in table 2. The results obtained here are evidence that the mixing of d-orbitals into valence
bands is a function of bandgap (𝐸𝑔 ). The decreasing bandgap suggests an increased probability
of d-orbitals mixing into the valence band, which is verified by the DFT calculations as shown
below.
3.5 Density functional theory
A 3×3×3 supercell was constructed using the experimental lattice parameters of cubic
BFNT. Four Ti ions in the supercell were replaced by two Fe and two Nb ions to match the
experimental doping concentration (x=0.075). Based on the dopant-dopant distance, eight
distinct configurations were identified as illustrated in fig.S3 and the ground state energy
calculations were performed to understand the effect of the dopant ion interaction over the
ground state energy. It is observed that the calculated ground state energies differ relatively, as
tabulated in table S5 and the optimized structure of the minimum energy configuration-2 is
used to calculate DOS.
Figure 5 (c, d) shows the computed electronic density of states corresponding to the
tetragonal-BT and cubic-0.075BFNT structures in their minimal energy configuration. The
calculated bandgap values for pure BT and 0.075BFNT were 3.26 and 2.49 eV, respectively.
These values are in line with the experimental results of 3.2 and 2.55 eV. The valence band of
pure BT is mostly occupied by the O-2p state, whereas the conduction band consists primarily
of the Ti-3d state, as seen in Fig. 5(c). The estimated valence bandwidth is -4.75 eV, which is
consistent with the DFT results from previous papers [49, 50].
It is remarkable to notice from fig. 5(d) that on metal substitution at B-site, the Ti-3d
and O-2p orbital still dominate the CB minimum and VB maximum of the BFNT respectively.
With increasing substitution level to x=0.075, the formation of new 3d states of Fe and Nb was
photogenerated charge carriers within the material system as from an earlier report [51]. On
the other hand, fig. 5(d), the substitution of Fe and Nb in BFNT results in the hybridization of
Nb–O and Fe-O at the conduction band, which effectively separates the photogenerated
electron-hole pair [52]. Furthermore, this hybridization between Fe-3d and Nb-3d with O-2p
pushes the CB minimum towards lower energy levels resulting in the significant reduction of
the conduction band edge from 3.26 to 2.49 eV, as shown in Fig. 5(d) in the reason for
minimizing the photoexcitation energy of charge carriers. The red shift of CBM combined with
an increase in mobility of photogenerated charge carriers along VB due to Fe–O & Nb–O in
BFNT leads to the expectation of improvement in photocurrent density.

3.6 Photovoltaic characteristics:
To evaluate the photovoltaic (PV) response of BT ceramics with Fe and Nb substitution,
the short-circuit current density (Jsc) vs open-circuit voltage (Voc) curve were measured under
both dark and light irradiation of 100 mW/cm2 and the results are illustrated in fig. 6(a).
Surprisingly, all the BT samples exhibit bulk photovoltaic characteristics with Jsc in
microampere and large Voc as listed in table 3. It was noted that the open-circuit voltage and
short-circuit current density increased under increasing the substitution and achieved 8.31 V
and 1.46 µA/cm2 respectively, for 0.075BFNT. The large Voc (i.eVoc>Eg) justifies that it is an
anomalous photovoltaic effect. Further, the following relation can be used to calculate the
photoresponsivity (R) and specific detectivity (D) of the device [53]:
𝐽𝑠𝑐
𝑅= (8)
𝐼
𝑅
𝐷 = [(2𝑞𝐽 1/2 ] (9)
𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 )
where I means the light intensity (100 mW/cm2), q refers the electron charge (1.6 × 10-19 C)
and Jsc, Jdark stands for the short-circuit current density and dark current density of the device,
respectively. According to table 3 the maximum R and D values of 1.46× 10-2 mA/W and 3.57
× 108 Jones were obtained for Al/0.075BFNT/Ag device, respectively, which is remarkably
larger than prior reports [53, 54].
The time dependent photocurrent density curve for all samples was measured under 100
mW/cm2 light irradiation with an ON/OFF switching time of 60 s and a bias of 10 V, as shown
in Fig. 6(b). It was found that the photocurrent density of all ceramic samples increased when
the light was turned on, then decayed and returned to its original state once the light source was
turned off. This clearly shows that all of the devices have a good ON/OFF switching response.
Fig. 6(c) displayed the performance of time resolved photocurrent density of BT and
0.075BFNT device. The photocurrent of both devices increased quickly when the light source
was turned on, followed by a modest improvement in Jsc, until achieving saturation. After the
light source is switched off, the photocurrent was rapidly falls for both the devices, then slowly
decays until returning to the initial condition of Jsc (dark current). Such rise and decay responses
of both devices were detected using exponential fitting of the experimental data using the
relation below;
−𝑡 −𝑡
𝐼 = 𝐼0 + [𝐶 𝑒𝑥𝑝 ( 𝜏 )] + [𝐷 𝑒𝑥𝑝 ( 𝜏 )] (10)
1 2
where I0 represents the steady state photocurrent, C and D are constants, t is time and 𝜏1 and 𝜏2
are the relaxation time constants [55]. The excellent fitted photo response curves of BT and
0.075BFNT samples as presented in fig. 6 (c) where 𝜏𝑟 and 𝜏𝑑 are time constants for rising and
decay edges, respectively. The estimated time constants of BT are: 𝜏𝑟1 = 7.5 s, 𝜏𝑟2 = 17.3 s,
𝜏𝑑1 = 10.1 s, 𝜏𝑑2 = 12.3 s and 0.075BFNT are: 𝜏𝑟1 = 7.0 s, 𝜏𝑟2 = 8.6 s, 𝜏𝑑1 = 10.6 s, 𝜏𝑑2 = 13
s. The rising constants are associated with the carrier creation process, whereas the decay
constants are associated with the carrier recombination process. As a result, BT has a longer
duration for carrier generation than 0.075BFNT, yet the decay constants of both devices are
comparable.
The PV properties of bulk BT ceramics depend on various factors such as material
thickness [56], the work function of the electrode material [23], light intensity [14], applied
poling field [17], electrical conduction and behavior of domain walls [13], ferroelectric
polarization [17] and electrode/ferroelectric/electrode interface [15, 23]. However, the bulk
photovoltaic effect is largely dependent on the interface of the top electrode/ferroelectric
material/bottom electrode architecture. According to Fan et al. the comparative study of the
bulk photovoltaic effect on Ti/BTO/SRO and Pt/BTO/SRO combinations revealed a short-
circuit current(Isc) of about 1.2 nA and 0.3 nA, respectively [57]. This result suggested that the
suppression of photocurrent in Pt/BTO/SRO interface was due to the large work function of
the Pt electrode (φPt = 5.5 eV) than Ti electrode (φTi = 4.33 eV). A similar PV study was
conducted for Mg/PLZT/ITO, Pt/PLZT/ITO, and Ag/PLZT/ITO cell configurations, where the
open-circuit voltage and short circuit current density increased in the order of large work
function metal electrodes to less work function metal electrodes [19]. Moreover, Subhajit Pal
et al. reported that the pure BT ceramics with a cell configuration of Ag/BT/Ag provide a Voc
of 2 V and Jsc of 3 nA/cm2 under the illumination of 160 mW/ cm2 with the device thickness
of about 0.5 mm [14]. Although in our case, Al/BT/Ag provides Jsc of 0.65 μA/cm2 and Voc of
3.4 V even under 100 mW/cm2 illumination with a similar thickness as pure BT. Here, the
height of the Schottky barrier (φB) can be determined by the difference between the work
function of the metal electrode (φM) and the electron affinity (χ) of FE material [58].
Considering that the work functions of Al and Ag are 4.125 eV and 4.48 eV respectively and
the electron affinity of BT is 3.8 eV [59], then φB= 0.325 eV (if Al is a top electrode) and φB=
0.68 eV (if Ag is a top electrode). Comparatively, the barrier height is much smaller when Al
works as the top electrode of the device than Ag. In addition, the enhancement of the PV
response in pure BT can originate from the coexistence of the tetragonal and orthorhombic
phases. According to the shift current theory, the enhancement of PV properties in KNbO3 is
achieved in excess in mixed of orthorhombic and rhombohedral phases compared to that of the
tetragonal phase [60]. Moreover, Kola et al. reported that maximum Voc was attained in B-site
doped BT at a larger orthorhombic phase than that of the tetragonal single phase [2]. Therefore,
the greater bulk PV response in pure BT in this study than in Subhajit Pal et al. [14] result is
based on the structural symmetry and low work function metal electrode.
The greatest variation in PV outcomes from metal substitution depends on the bandgap,
grain size, domain size, and dielectric and ferroelectric characteristics [13]. The existence of
an aliovalent Fe3+-Nb5+ pair in BaTiO3 greatly alters the properties of both the valence and
conduction bands, according to theoretical DFT calculation. The bandgap of the ferroelectric
material decreased considerably from 3.25 eV to 2.55 eV when B-site replacement increased.
This reduction in bandgap potentially absorbs the maximum visible region of the light source
as shows in fig. 5(a). Bandgap reduction is an important component covering a wide area of
the light source and is beneficial to increase the current density of the device. Additionally, the
XPS findings of fig. 3(b) demonstrated that the formation of minor oxygen vacancies was
obtained in 0.025BFNT, however in the 0.075BFNT sample, the oxygen vacancies were
substantially controlled by the lack of Fe2+ state. The oxygen vacancy suppression in
0.075BFNT increases the Jsc of the device more sharply than that in 0.025BFNT by reducing
the recombination between oxygen vacancies and hopping electrons.
Meanwhile, the open-circuit voltage of the device can be expressed as [61]
𝑉𝑜𝑐 = 𝐸𝑝𝑣 . 𝑑 (11)
where Epv denotes the photovoltaic field and d is the distance between the metal electrodes.
This equation suggests an anomalous photovoltaic effect, in which the open-circuit voltage of
the device is substantially higher than the bandgap of the material and is not constrained by the
bandgap of bulk ferroelectrics. For instance, A. M. Glass et al. in Fe-doped LiNbO3 [62]
attained the anomalous photovoltage of around 1,000 volts. Generally, the PV response of bulk
ferroelectrics depends on the grain size and domain size effect. In an earlier study, we described
the microstructure of Fe and Nb-modified BaTiO3. Currently, the microstructure of
0.075BFNT was analyzed and the results are shown in Fig. S5. Additionally, elemental analysis
of all samples was conducted using EDX mapping & spectra as depicted in Fig. S6; further
details regarding microstructure analysis can be found in Supporting Information. According
to Frank et al. it has been proposed that the generated high photovoltage in ceramics is
proportional to the number of grains, i.e., high photovoltage is generated from the summation
of individual photo-emf across the grains [63]. Consistent with this result, the number of grains
in smaller grain sizes is greater than in larger ones, resulting in higher output photovoltage with
increasing metal substitution. In addition, the grain size of BaTiO3 is co-related with the
domain size by the simple relationship as follows [64]
𝑑 ∝ 𝑔1/2 (12)
where g and d denote the grain and domain size of the ceramics, respectively. The domain size
will also be affected by changes in grain size. Earlier reports stated that the open-circuit voltage
of ferroelectrics was induced by the addition of an electrostatic potential difference between
the domain walls [13]. Here the grain size of BaTiO3 ceramics was decreased upon metal
substitution in the order of 3.6 μm, 0.68 μm and 0.51 μm for x=0.0, 0.025, and 0.05
respectively, from our previous findings [31] and fig. S5 reveals the grain size of x=0.075 was
0.14 μm. Thus, the smaller grain size results in smaller domain size and the smaller size of
domains have a larger number of domain walls and achieve a higher open-circuit voltage of
the device. As a result, the reduced grain size increased the photovoltage of the Al/BFNT/Ag
device.
The aforementioned findings demonstrated an inventive strategy to enhance both the
photocurrent and photovoltage of BFNT ceramics. Numerous investigations have
indicated that the large ferroelectric polarization is a crucial component for the anomalous
photovoltaic effect, in which the photovoltage of the ferroelectric material increases
substantially above the bandgap of the material meanwhile the generated photocurrent values
are very low in the range of nano to pico ampere [17, 24, 25]. Even for the pure BT sample,
the anomalous photovoltage of around 3.4 V was attained due to the larger polarization and
non-centrosymmetry orthorhombic + tetragonal phase structure, as confirmed by P-E loop and
ADXRD analysis respectively. However, the large anti-bonding property between Ti-3d and
O-2p results in a wide bandgap (Eg=3.25 eV), hence the generated photocurrent was quite low
(Jsc= 0.65 μA/cm2). According to the first-principle calculations based on the shift current
mechanism, maximum polarization is not a necessary condition for the BPV response, although
inversion symmetry must be broken [14, 65]. According to the above mechanism, the non-
centrosymmetric ferroelectric tetragonal phase coexists with the paraelectric cubic phase in
metal-substituted BT, as proven by ADXRD and Raman investigations, where the remnant
polarization was reduced compared to pure BT, but the photovoltaic parameters and PV power
(Voc × Jsc) of the 0.075BFNT device were remarkably improved and comparable with recent
studies, as shown in fig. 6(d) and table S7. Therefore, we concluded from the overall
experimental results and theoretical DFT calculations that the high photoresponsivity, large
detectivity of solar spectrum with concurrent enhancement of both photocurrent and
photovoltage in bulk ferroelectric BT is possible through appropriate co-substitution of
aliovalent Fe3+-Nb5+ pair, which is successfully tuning the bandgap to absorb abundant regions
of the solar spectrum, controlling oxygen vacancies to reduce the e-h recombination rate,
minimizing the grain size and using a low work function top electrode.
4. Conclusion:
In summary, the structural, optical, electrical and photovoltaic properties of BaTi1-
2xFexNbxO3 (x=0.0, 0.025, 0.05 and 0.075) were discussed. The synchrotron ADXRD data
combined with Raman spectra confirmed that the pure BT possesses the mixed phase of
tetragonal + orthorhombic at RT. Increasing the Fe3+ and Nb5+ substitution at B-site modifies
the structure to tetragonal + cubic symmetry, reducing octahedral tilt, and distortion along with
increasing internal stress field contributed to tuning the bandgap into a lower energy state of
2.55 eV and thus can efficiently absorb the larger area of the solar spectrum (~ 500 nm). To
comprehend the drastic decrement in the bandgap of BFNT samples from pristine BT, DFT
studies were carried out. It was found that the band gap value decreases drastically from 3.28
eV to 2.49 eV because of the aliovalent Fe3+-Nb5+ ions contributions to the valance and
conduction band. The tuned bandgap develops the metal-oxygen covalent character and
enhances the charge carrier mobility of the device. Further, XPS analysis depicted a clear
picture about suppression of oxygen vacancies in 0.075BFNT through Fe-2p and O-1s spectra.
Meanwhile, the grain size reduction is responsible for the continuous growth of Voc. From time
resolved J-t fitted curves, the slow response rise time constant was improved for 0.075BFNT
than BT device. Here, the simultaneous enhancement of Jsc and Voc does not follow the
maximum polarization concept. Finally, an apt top electrode, reduced bandgap, small grain size
and suppression of oxygen vacancies are contributed to enhance the PV power of
Al/0.075BFNT/Ag device to ~12 μW/cm2.
Acknowledgment:
This study was financially funded by the University Grant Commission-Basic Science
Research Fellowship scheme (F.No:25-1/2014-15(BSR)/7-305/2010/(BSR), and L. Venkidu is
thankful to the government of India for funding this study. The author also thanks Dr. A.K
Sinhan, Dr. Archana Sagdeo, and Mr. Mandvendra Narayanan Singh, Raja Ramanna Centre
for Advanced Technology, Indore, India, for their help in Angle Dispersive X-ray Diffraction
(ADXRD) beamline-12 (BL-12) at Indus-2 synchrotron radian source. The fabrication of the
mask (Al/BFNT/Ag) was carried out at the Center for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE),
Indian Insitute of Science, Bangaluru, under the INUP program funded by the Ministry of
Education (MoE), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and
Nanomission, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. The author
L.Venkidu sincerely thanks Ms. Adithi for their help during the mask fabrication. SERB grant
(CRG/2019/006990) is also acknowledged for the P-E loop tester. N. Raja gratefully
acknowledges C. Kamal, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, India for
the fruitful discussions and help in calculations. N. Raja also acknowledges Rajesh Ravindran
and The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India.
Author Contributions
The corresponding author, Dr. B. Sundarakannan is responsible for ensuring that the
descriptions are accurate and agreed by all authors. The role(s) of all authors is listed as follows,
L.Venkidu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing - Original Draft
N. Raja: DFT Validation and Investigation
B. Sundarakannan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Writing -
Review & Editing
Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the
corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Figure captions
Fig.1. (a) ADXRD patterns of BT and BFNT samples at RT. (b) Enlarged (002), (200)
reflections from BT and BFNT samples. Rietveld refinement of pure BT refined with (c)
P4mm (d) P4mm + Amm2 space groups (e-g) Rietveld refinement ADXRD patterns of
0.025BFNT, 0.05BFNT and 0.075BFNT ceramics.
Fig.2. Enlarged view of two nearby linked TiO6 octahedra with octahedral tilting of (a) BT and
(b) 0.075BFNT samples.
Fig.3. (a) XPS binding energy spectra of Ti-peak shifting and high-resolution core-level
spectra of (b) Fe-2p, (c) Nb-3d and (d) O-1s elements.
Fig.4. Polarization- Electric field (P-E) hysteresis loop of BT and BFNT samples at RT.
Fig.5. Absorption spectra of BT and BFNT samples as a function of (a) wavelength, and (b)
Tauc’s plot. The total density of states (TDOS) and projected density of states (PDOS) for the
structures (c) tetragonal BT and (d) cubic 0.075BFNT. (In both graphs, the Fermi level is set
to zero.)
Fig.6. (a) J-V characteristics of BT and BFNT samples. (b) Time-dependent photocurrent
density (J-t) curve. (c) Time-resolved photocurrent density rise and decay curves of BT and
0.075BFNT device (d) Graph comparing Voc, Jsc and PV power of BFNT with other BT-based
ferroelectric photovoltaics.
Table captions:
1. Deconvolution of O-1s peak parameters for BT and BFNT samples obtained from XPS
measurement.
2. Bandgap (Eg), Bandwidth (EB), 𝜂, and probability of d-orbital mixing obtained for BT and
BNFT samples.
3. Photovoltaic parameters determined for BT and BFNT samples.
Table 1
Sample O(I) O(II) (%) O(III)(%)
Binding Peak Binding Peak Binding Peak
energy area energy area energy area
(eV) (%) (eV) (%) (eV) (%)
BT 528.17 28.27 533.59 67.52 537.83 4.21
0.025BFNT 527.48 26.59 531.41 70.15 534.06 3.24
0.075BFNT 527.64 33.79 530.43 55.73 532.17 10.46
Table 2
Sample Eg (eV) EB (eV) 𝜂 rd (%)
BT 3.25 3.26 0.49816 15
0.025BFNT 2.68 3.14 0.42814 18
0.05BFNT 2.64 3.12 0.42290 18.5
0.075BFNT 2.55 3.10 0.37958 19

Table 3
Sample Jsc Voc FF η R D
(μA/cm2) (Volts) (%) (mA/W) (× 108
Jones)
BT 0.69 3.40 0.290 0.0006 0.0069 1.688
0.025BFNT 0.22 5.14 0.297 0.0003 0.0022 0.538
0.05BFNT 0.97 7.68 0.307 0.0022 0.0097 2.373
0.075BFNT 1.46 8.31 0.332 0.0041 0.0146 3.572

Highlights
Highlights:
 Al/BaTi1-2xFexNbxO3/Ag is an excellent bulk ferroelectric photovoltaic device
configuration.
 Increment of aliovalent Fe3+ and Nb5+ ionic substitutions reduces the bandgap of
0.075BFNT ceramics to ~2.55 eV and broadens the visible spectrum absorption.
 The photocurrent density of Al/0.075BFNT/Ag photovoltaic cell is about ~2.2 times
higher than that of pure BT.
 A high photovoltaic power of ~12 μW/cm2 was achieved.

Unmarked Revised Manuscript for Publication Click here to view linked References
Impact of charge-compensated Fe and Nb co-substitution on BaTiO3: bandgap and grain
size reduction and enhanced bulk photovoltaic power of Al/BFNT/Ag solar cell
L.Venkidua, N. Rajaa&b and B.Sundarakannana*
a Department of Physics, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Abishekapatti, Tirunelveli-
627012, Tamil Nadu, India.
b The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, C.I.T. Campus, Taramani, Chennai 600113, India.
Corresponding author: sundarakannan@msuniv.ac.in
Abstract
The generation of above bandgap photovoltage using bulk ferroelectric materials has
become a subject of great interest, however, their photocurrent density is limited by a broad
bandgap and poor conductivity. To overcome this limitation, we replaced aliovalent metal ions
(Fe3+ and Nb5+) at the B-site of robust ferroelectric BaTiO3 and fabricated an Al/BaTi1-
2xFexNbxO3/Ag photovoltaic device. Both the experimental and the theoretical studies showed
that bandgap was lowered to ~2.55 eV and hence absorption of wide energy range of the solar
spectrum was attained. An apt top electrode, reduced bandgap and domain size resulted in
greater photocurrent density of 1.46 μA/cm2 and photovoltage of 8.31 volts for
Al/0.075BFNT/Ag solar cell in unpoled condition. This research suggest that reduced band
gap, mixed structural phases and nano-sized domains suffices greatest PV power output while
the large polarization and poling are not necessary prerequisites.
Keywords: Bandgap, Photocurrent, Open circuit voltage, Ferroelectric Photovoltaic
1 Introduction:
Photovoltaic solar energy is obtained by converting sunlight into electricity using a p-
n junction based on the semiconductors [1]. Photovoltaic (PV) technology is playing a

significant role in modern industry to alleviate the energy crisis. Traditional junction-based
solar cell technology is widely used, though the raw material of silicon (Si) is relatively high
price and the fabrication process requires so sophisticated technology. The output voltage in
semiconductor based material is limited by their bandgap and the power conversion efficiency
(PCE) depends on the complicated interfaces of PV devices. Conversely, non-centrosymmetric
bulk ferroelectric materials proficiently separate electron-hole pairs through their internal
electric field originating from the spontaneous polarization represented as the bulk photovoltaic
effect (BPV) [2, 3]. BPV devices are not limited by the bandgap and therefore produce a larger
photovoltage (anomalous photovoltaic effect) than traditional junction-based PV devices [2‒
4]. In recent times, bulk ferroelectric polycrystalline photovoltaics have attracted special
attention because of their low cost, good stability, facile fabrication of the device, and high
photovoltage [2‒5]. The main drawback of ferroelectric ceramics is their low power
conversation efficiency (PCE) mainly due to their low photocurrent density under light which
is related to their low conductivity [2, 3, 5]. Therefore, how to simultaneously enhance the
photocurrent and photovoltage of bulk ferroelectric ceramics and thereby power conversion
efficiency becomes an important issue to pushing forward the practically realizable application
of the ferroelectric photovoltaic device. Recent research focused on the BPV effect in various
ferroelectric systems such as ferroelectric ceramics [2-5], single crystals [6, 7] thin films [8, 9,
10], polymers [11], organic and inorganic ferroelectric composites [12]. Recent research has
proposed explanations for the BPV with various models such as domain wall theory [13],
ballistic model [2], shift-current model [14], interface effect (Schottky- junction effect) [15]
electrode, and depolarization field effect [16]. Considering the above models, ferroelectric
materials with relatively small bandgaps and large polarizations are promising candidates for
photovoltaic applications because the materials can absorb large amounts of the solar spectrum
while simultaneously separating charge carriers.

In this regard, BaTiO3 (BT) is considered one of the promising eco-friendly
ferroelectric perovskite materials with off-center distortions from its centrosymmetric position
and large spontaneous polarization arising from the strong hybridization among the lowest
unoccupied Ti4+-d0 state and O-2p state at room temperature [17, 2]. However, pristine
ferroelectric BT can only be able to absorb the ultraviolet (UV) region of the solar spectrum
due to its wide bandgap (3.2 eV) [14, 17, 18]. Only 3.5% of solar radiation is encompassed by
UV light (wavelength 200‒390 nm) yet visible light accounts for 40% of solar energy
(wavelength 390-700 nm) [5]. Therefore, constructing a ferroelectric BPV device with a
narrow bandgap (Eg) is an essential factor for absorbing abundant light and maintaining
ferroelectricity. Recent studies have focused on substituting ions at A-site and/or partially
occupied non-d0 ions at the B-site of BT, as a way to reduce its bandgap as well as to control
ferroelectric properties. In this regard, a large short-circuit current density of Jsc=7.51 μA/cm2
was obtained with A-site Sr-doped BT, but it didn’t induce anomalous photovoltage (Voc<1.5
V i.e. Eg = 3.04 eV) [19]. However, the maximum Voc of about 16 V was attained by BT co-
doping with Bi and Li ions at the A-site, but the determined photocurrent was within the range
of nano ampere [14]. Kola et al. achieved a large Voc of 16 V with a single substitution on B-
site as Ag/BaTi1-xSnxO3/Ag PV device based on the shift current model, but the current density
was very low around ~2 nA/cm2 range [2]. However, there have been only a few reports on the
effect of co-substitution on the B-site of bulk ferroelectric photovoltaic materials up to now.
For example, L.Wu et al. reported that Ni2+ and Nb5+ co-doped (0.9)BaTiO3‐
(0.1)Ba(Ni1/2Nb1/2)O2.75 provided a decreased bandgap of ~1.5 eV and maintained remnant
polarization ~5 μC/cm2 with obtained steady-state current of 8 nA/cm2 [20]. In contrast to other
transition metal pair substitutions (such as Mg3+-Nb-5+, Co3+-Nb5+, and Sc3+-Nb5+), the Fe3+-
Nb5+ pair at the B-site of BT has little effect on the bandgap reduction, and the significant
suppression in ferroelectricity is be expected to reduce the photovoltaic properties of BT and
decrease the device performance [21, 22]. However, there is a lack of experimental evidence.
Also, it has been noted that in conventional electrode/ferroelectric/electrode
architecture, the net build-in electric field (Ebi) of the top and bottom metal electrodes can form
two back-to-back Schottky barriers that deplete the electrode-ferroelectric interface [15, 23].
From the prior reports, lowering the height of the Schottky barrier with a low-work function
metal electrode can induce a large photovoltaic effect of the device [15, 23]. Therefore, by
choosing a suitable configuration of electrodes in contact with ferroelectric materials, the
photocurrents and photo-generated voltage of the device may also be enhanced. In this regard,
aluminium (Al) and silver (Ag) electrodes have been selected as the top and bottom electrodes
respectively, for our PV device. Considering that as a scope, we used a ferroelectric material
such as BaTiO3 to provide the bandgap reduction, enhance photocurrent, photovoltage and
maintaining ferroelectricity through charge-neutral chemical co-substitution of aliovalent Fe3+
and Nb5+ at B-site with an asymmetrical electrode architecture. Both Nb5+ and Fe3+ perform a
typical charge compensator and bandgap reducers respectively, with strong photo response,
high electron mobility, reduced recombination loss, easy crystallization, controlled oxygen
vacancies and good candidates in the ferroelectric photovoltaic system. In particular, the
reduction of the bandgap from 3.2 eV to 2.55 eV and enhanced photocurrent density of 1.46
µA/cm2 have been achieved with Al/0.075BFNT/Ag device, which is larger than that of the
Ag/BBLT/Ag [17] and Ag/BST/Ag photovoltaic cells [2]. We perform theoretical
computations to further envisage our experimental results and to find the reason for the
bandgap reduction.
2 Experimental procedure
The bulk ceramics powder with the composition Ba(Ti1-2xFexNbx)O3 (BFNT) (x=0.0
equipped with a Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) as a source and an InGaAs detector (1024 × 256). It
has a resolution of 2 cm-1. The measured data was fitted with Lorentz function using Origin
software (version:8.5) and fitting parameters such as peak position and line width were added
in supporting information. To determine the bandgap of the samples, a diffuse reflectance
spectrophotometer (DRS) (UV-2400 Schimadzu) was used. The silver paste was applied on
both sides of the polished pellets for measuring the room temperature polarization-electric field
(P-E loop) hysteresis loops using a Precision ferroelectric tester system (Radian technologies
P-E loop tracer). The PHI - VERSAPROBE III is an advanced instrument that was used to
obtain X-ray photoelectronic spectra. It features a multichannel detector and monochromatic
Al-Kα source with energy of 1486.6 eV, providing excellent resolution ranging from 0.1 to 40
eV for sample analysis and characterization. The peaks background were subtracted for more
accuracy in peak fitting, then the Gaussian function was used to fit each elemental XPS peaks
with Origin software (version: 8.5) and the parameters were included in supporting
information. The Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer Quantax 200 with X Flash® 6130 was
used for EDX and mapping studies. The photovoltaic measurements were done using Sol3A
Class AAA solar simulator with Keithley electrometer (2400) measuring setup.
2.1 Device fabrication
The PV studies were conducted on the cell configuration of Al/BFNT/Ag, where Al
and Ag are the top and bottom electrodes, respectively. BFNT pellets were mirror polished and
thickness of 0.5mm, diameter of 11mm and area of pellets of ~0.95 cm2. For photovoltaic
measurements, Aluminium (Al) electrode was coated on the top surface of the sample (0.1-mm
thickness of shadow mask) and bottom surface was covered with silver (Ag) electrode using a
thermal evaporation technique with heating the samples at 400oC/30min. Ag paste was used to
connect the electrodes and copper wire for the photovoltaic experiment.
2.2 Computational Details
Density functional theory (DFT) simulations were performed to understand the
substantial decrease in the measured bandgap value of BFNT samples. Calculations were
carried out on a 3×3×3 supercell of 135 atoms using the projector augmented wave (PAW)
[24] method as implemented in the Vienna Ab Initio Simulation Package (VASP) [25]. The
generalized gradient approximation (GGA) [26] was used to depict the exchange and
correlations of electrons. A Monkhorst pack scheme [27] k-points mesh was set to 2×2×2, and
a plane wave energy cut-off of 520 eV was chosen. To account for any possible strong
correlation GGA +U approach was employed, with U = 4 eV for the 3d-orbitals of the Fe-ions
[28]. Since GGA functionals tend to underestimate the bandgap values for most materials, HSE
hybrid functional is used on optimized structures to compute the density of states (DOS) [22,
32]. DOS was sampled with 3×3×3 k-mesh and Gaussian smearing of 0.1 eV.
3 Results and discussion:
3.1 Synchrotron Angle Dispersive X-ray diffraction (ADXRD)
The synchrotron X-ray diffraction patterns of BT, 0.025BFNT, 0.05BFNT and
0.075BFNT samples were measured at room temperature and are shown in fig. 1(a). No
impurity phase was observed in all samples. Peak indexed for ceramics samples agrees with
recently reported BFNT [30, 31], which has a perovskite cubic phase with space group Pm3̅m
because of an increase in co-substitution. The gradual decrement in the (200)pc peak splitting
is evidence as seen in the enlarged view in fig 1(b). The two-phase model was confirmed for
BT samples from synchrotron ADXRD is consistent with laboratory X-ray diffraction
described in our prior study [31, 32], the two-phases of the BT sample are tetragonal (P4mm)
and orthorhombic (Amm2).
The Rietveld analysis program Jana2006 package [33] was used for crystal structure
refinement. Rietveld refinement parameters for specified space groups are the lattice
parameters, atomic coordinates, atomic occupancies, scale factor, 2θ zero shift, 36-degree
Legendre polynomials for background and pseudo-Voigt line shape with asymmetry. As per
the nominal composition of the perovskite ABO3 structure, the A site atomic occupancy is Ba,
and the B site atomic occupancy is Ti/(Fe & Nb). Figure 1 (c) and 1 (d) show the Rietveld
refinement fit of the synchrotron ADXRD pattern of pure BT using a single-phase model,
tetragonal (P4mm) and two-phase model tetragonal (P4mm) + orthorhombic (Amm2)
respectively. The goodness of fit (χ2) parameters for the P4mm and P4mm+Amm2 models are
χ2=5.71 and 4.71, respectively. The poor fit or misfits (Bragg position, peak shape, intensities)
could not be improved satisfactorily, as shown in the insets of fig. 1(c) [indicated by circle]. In
contrast, P4mm and Amm2 two-phase models could well account for the Bragg profiles, peak
position, and intensities. Fig. 1(d) illustrates the excellent fit in an enlarged view of (111)pc and
(200)pc for the two-phase model. Synchrotron ADXRD patterns of co-substituted BT, depicted
in fig. 1(e)-(g), were refined with P4mm (T) and Pm3̅m (C) structural models which conform
with earlier reports [30, 31]. Rietveld refined structural parameters such as lattice parameter,
volume, c/a, atomic position, R-factor (wRp), phase fraction (%wt), and goodness of fit (χ2) of
BFNT (x=0.0, 0.025, 0.05, and 0.75) samples are listed in table S1. The ratios of phase
percentage of P4mm and Pm3̅m crystal structure are 85.3:14.7, 76.7:23.3 and 41.5:58.5 for x=
0.025, 0.05, and 0.075 respectively. The mixed phase structures of BT and BFNT samples were
then verified by Raman spectroscopy as shown in Fig. S1(a–d), and a detailed description is
given in the Supporting Information.
According to Vegard’s law [34], the lattice constant of the cubic unit cell increases with
the concentration of substitution ions, as shown in table S1. Also, the volume of the cubic
lattice increases with x due to larger ionic radii (rFe3+=64.5 pm and rNb5+= 64 pm) in weight
compared to the host radius Ti (rTi4+= 60.5 pm). The c/a ratio of the tetragonal unit cell
constantly drops with increasing x, which can be attributed to the aliovalent replacement ions
such as Fe3+ and Nb5+ at the Ti4+ site that induces an internal stress field in BT ceramics. The
structural phase transition originated from this internal stress field by the broken Ti-O
hybridization. The change in lattice parameters and the volume of the unit cell is associated
with oxygen-octahedral tilting and distortion of octahedra. The change in lattice parameters
and the volume of the unit cell is associated with the oxygen-octahedral tilting and distortion
of octahedra. The oxygen-octahedral tilt can be determined by the equation given below [35,
36]:
180−𝜃
𝜃𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑡 = (1)
2
centered oxygen ion (Ti4+-O2--Ti4+). The octahedral tilting of BT compared with

0.075BFNT is illustrated in fig.2(a) and (b). Also, the octahedral distortion can be estimated
by the following relation [35]:

6
1 𝛿𝑛 − < 𝛿 > 2
∆𝑜𝑐𝑡 = ∑ [ ]
6 <𝛿>
𝑖=1
(2)
where 𝛿𝑛 and < 𝛿 > denote the individual and average interatomic metal-oxygen bond length.
With increasing substitution at the B-site, the structure of BFNT ceramics is closer to pseudo-
cubic with reducing octahedral tilting and distortion from table S2. The decreasing octahedra
tilt could affect the bandgap of the samples.
3.2 X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
To investigate the electronic states of each element in BaTi1-2xFexNbxO3, the X-ray
photoelectronic spectra were recorded. The detailed survey and core-level spectra of Ba and Ti
for BT, 0.025BFNT and 0.075BFNT are discussed in the supporting information (fig. S2). Fig.
3(a) denotes that the binding energy of the Ti-2p spectrum shifted into a lower energy level
with increasing substitution. This can be attributed to the local electric field. This local electric
field induced to decrease in the bandgap of the ferroelectric material [37]. As a result, the
lowering bandgap influenced the intermediate charge transfer, thus can suppress the resistivity
of the material.
Fig. 3(b) illustrates the asymmetric nature of core-level Fe-3d spectra of 0.025BFNT
and 0.075BFNT and it can be split into Fe-2p3/2 and Fe2p1/2 spin states. For 0.025BFNT, the
XPS spectra can be deconvoluted into the characteristic peaks of Fe2+ and Fe3+ assigned to ~
708.8 eV, ~713.7 eV and ~ 710.8 eV, 722.06 eV, respectively. The absence of Fe2+ peaks in
0.075BFNT indicates the suppression of the oxygen vacancies. Additionally, the satellite peaks
around ~718.12 eV and 720.1 eV were also found in fig 3(b). These results are matched with
previous literature [37, 38]. The absence of doublet peaks around 719.9 eV and 706.7 eV
indicates that the substituted iron (Fe) is ionized and not metallic [39]. The photoelectronic
spectra around ~204.3 eV and ~208.3 eV represent the Nb-3d5/2 and Nb-3d3/2 states
respectively, were seen in fig. 3(c) for 0.025BFNT and 0.075BFNT samples. The oxidized state
of Nb is 5+ for these peaks.
The core-level spectra of O-1s of BT, 0.025BFNT and 0.075BFNT are shown in fig.
3(d). The O(I), O(II), and O(III) spectra represent the lattice oxygen bonding with Ti/Fe/Nb,
oxygen vacancies, and adsorbed oxygen is assigned at ~529 eV, ~531 eV, and ~533 eV
respectively. The binding energy and area under the fitting curve of O(I), O(II), and O(III) are
listed in table 1, where the area of the oxygen vacancy tends to decrease with increasing
substitution. This results from the simultaneous doping of donor (Nb5+) and acceptor (Fe3+) at
the B-site can neutralize the charge carriers and avoid the oxygen vacancies [40]. The reaction
can be written using Kroger-Vink notation as follows;
′ •
𝐹𝑒2 𝑂3 + 𝑁𝑏2 𝑂3 → 2𝐹𝑒𝑇𝑖 + 2𝑁𝑏𝑇𝑖 + 6𝑂𝑜 (3)
Hence, the samples are obeying the following condition of charge neutrality [41]
∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝐴𝑖 𝑛𝐴𝑖 + ∑𝑛𝑘=1 𝑥𝐵𝑖 𝑛𝐵𝑖 = 6 (4)
where, 𝑥𝐴𝑖 , 𝑥𝐵𝑖 (for x= 0.0, 0.025, 0.05 and 0.075) are the fractions of ions and 𝑛𝐴𝑖 , 𝑛𝐵𝑖 are the
valances of ions (Ba-2+, Ti-4+, Fe-3+, Nb-5+) at the A & B sites, respectively.
3.3 Hysteresis loop
To find the impact on ferroelectricity under B-site substitution of BT ceramics, the
Polarization-Electric field (P-E) hysteresis loop was measured at room temperature with a 30
kV/cm applied field, as shown in fig. 4. The shape of the P-E hysteresis loop tends to be
unsaturated with increasing metal substitution. The parameters such as remnant polarization
(Pr), spontaneous polarization (Ps), and coercive field (Ec) were decreased with increasing x as
in fig.4. It was suggested in the literature that the reduction of ferroelectricity upon metal
doping due to the formation of oxygen vacancies leads to an increase in the leakage current in
ferroelectric samples [32]. However, in the current study, the production of oxygen vacancies
is strongly restricted by the charge compensator Nb5+ which is further validated by the XPS
results of the Fe-2p and O-1s spectra. Therefore, the ferroelectricity in BT ceramics was
suppressed by the following features. The origin of local polarization in BaTiO3 ceramics can
be attributed to the off-center displacement of d0 Ti-ion about the oxygen octahedral cage. The
inclusion of bigger-size ions helps reduce the octahedral distortion and leads to suppressing the
Ti-O off-center displacement of BT ceramics. According to modern ferroelectric theories, the
partially occupied transition metal d-ion replaced at Ti-site supports centrosymmetric and
therefore simultaneously reduces the off-center distortion needed for ferroelectricity [42, 43].
The following theoretical calculations demonstrate the proof that the non-d0 Fe3+ state perturbs
both the valence and conduction band of BFNT materials. Therefore, the ferroelectricity of BT
was destabilized by the alterations in the hybridization of Ti-3d to O-2p orbital. These results
are consistent with the structural discussions and indicate that the ferroelectricity was
suppressed by co-substitution.
3.4 Bandgap
The DRS was used to investigate the optical characteristics of BT and metal-substituted
BT in the wavelength region of 200-900 nm as shown in fig. 5 (a). Fig 5 (a) illustrates the
absorbance spectra of the samples; in which all the substituted samples exhibit a shoulder
around ~400-500 nm (encircled region) and its absorbance increases along with x and it
broadens toward lower energy ranges. The bandgap energy of BT and BFNT samples can be
estimated using the Tauc plot as shown in fig. 5(b) and listed in table 2. The optical bandgap
of pure BT (3.25 eV) decreases with increasing metal substitution at the B-site. According to
previous studies, the valence band (VB) is assigned to the O-2p orbital and that of the
conduction band (CB) to the Ti-3d0 orbital in pure BaTiO3 [44], which generates a bandgap
energy of 3.25 eV. Meanwhile, non-d0 metals like Fe3+ replaced on the B-site might affect the
electronic band structure due to the anisotropic crystal fields of the octahedron created by the
metal-oxygen interactions [45]. In this context, the Fe/Ti/Nb could be treated as a point charge,
and their spatial arrangement affects the energy of the d-orbital of the central metal atom.
According to crystal field theory, a partially occupied 3d orbital in an octahedral crystal field
is divided into two eg orbitals and three t2g orbitals [2]. This field causes eg to evolve into one
high energy state (dx2-dy2) and one low energy state (dz2), whereas t2g evolves into one high
energy state (dxy) and two low energy levels (dzy and dzx) [45, 46]. As a result, the existence of
the 3d state between CB and VB with Fe3+ ions is indicated by the inter-band transition from
dz2 to dx2-dy2. Previous reports suggested that the large electronegativity difference between
metal and oxygen can induce a larger bandgap in perovskite materials [46, 47]. Here, the
electronegativity difference of Nb-O (1.84) and Fe-O (1.61) is much less than that of Ti-O
(1.9), therefore the reduced bandgap of BFNT largely depends on Fe3+ metal ion.
The d-orbital metal ions and the p-orbital of oxygen ions can be defined using the linear
combination of atomic orbitals model (LCAO). If the density of the state is deemed constant,
the following equations show that the probability of an average d-orbital mixing (rd) in the
valence band can be calculated based on the bandgap (Eg) and bandwidth (EB) [48, 40];
1 𝜂
𝑟𝑑 = 2 + 2(1−𝜂) ln(𝜂) × 100 (5)
where 𝜂 means the covalent mixing and it lies between 0 and 1. The value of 𝜂 can be
determined by the following equation:
𝐸𝑔
𝜂 = 2𝐸 (6)
𝐵
From table 2 𝜂 values tend to be small with increasing metal substitution indicating the strong
covalent mixing.
The value of EB is found from the equation below:
𝐸𝑔 2
𝐸𝐵 = √( 2 ) + 8(𝑝𝑑𝜋)2 (7)
For perovskite samples, the value of 𝑝𝑑𝜋 =1 eV [45] and the calculated𝐸𝐵 , 𝜂 and 𝑟𝑑 are listed
in table 2. The results obtained here are evidence that the mixing of d-orbitals into valence
bands is a function of bandgap (𝐸𝑔 ). The decreasing bandgap suggests an increased probability
of d-orbitals mixing into the valence band, which is verified by the DFT calculations as shown
below.
3.5 Density functional theory
A 3×3×3 supercell was constructed using the experimental lattice parameters of cubic
BFNT. Four Ti ions in the supercell were replaced by two Fe and two Nb ions to match the
experimental doping concentration (x=0.075). Based on the dopant-dopant distance, eight
distinct configurations were identified as illustrated in fig.S3 and the ground state energy
calculations were performed to understand the effect of the dopant ion interaction over the
ground state energy. It is observed that the calculated ground state energies differ relatively, as
tabulated in table S5 and the optimized structure of the minimum energy configuration-2 is
used to calculate DOS.
Figure 5 (c, d) shows the computed electronic density of states corresponding to the
tetragonal-BT and cubic-0.075BFNT structures in their minimal energy configuration. The
calculated bandgap values for pure BT and 0.075BFNT were 3.26 and 2.49 eV, respectively.
These values are in line with the experimental results of 3.2 and 2.55 eV. The valence band of
pure BT is mostly occupied by the O-2p state, whereas the conduction band consists primarily
of the Ti-3d state, as seen in Fig. 5(c). The estimated valence bandwidth is -4.75 eV, which is
consistent with the DFT results from previous papers [49, 50].
It is remarkable to notice from fig. 5(d) that on metal substitution at B-site, the Ti-3d
and O-2p orbital still dominate the CB minimum and VB maximum of the BFNT respectively.
With increasing substitution level to x=0.075, the formation of new 3d states of Fe and Nb was
photogenerated charge carriers within the material system as from an earlier report [51]. On
the other hand, fig. 5(d), the substitution of Fe and Nb in BFNT results in the hybridization of
Nb–O and Fe-O at the conduction band, which effectively separates the photogenerated
electron-hole pair [52]. Furthermore, this hybridization between Fe-3d and Nb-3d with O-2p
pushes the CB minimum towards lower energy levels resulting in the significant reduction of
the conduction band edge from 3.26 to 2.49 eV, as shown in Fig. 5(d) in the reason for
minimizing the photoexcitation energy of charge carriers. The red shift of CBM combined with
an increase in mobility of photogenerated charge carriers along VB due to Fe–O & Nb–O in
BFNT leads to the expectation of improvement in photocurrent density.

3.6 Photovoltaic characteristics:
To evaluate the photovoltaic (PV) response of BT ceramics with Fe and Nb substitution,
the short-circuit current density (Jsc) vs open-circuit voltage (Voc) curve were measured under
both dark and light irradiation of 100 mW/cm2 and the results are illustrated in fig. 6(a).
Surprisingly, all the BT samples exhibit bulk photovoltaic characteristics with J sc in
microampere and large Voc as listed in table 3. It was noted that the open-circuit voltage and
short-circuit current density increased under increasing the substitution and achieved 8.31 V
and 1.46 µA/cm2 respectively, for 0.075BFNT. The large Voc (i.eVoc>Eg) justifies that it is an
anomalous photovoltaic effect. Further, the following relation can be used to calculate the
photoresponsivity (R) and specific detectivity (D) of the device [53]:
𝐽𝑠𝑐
𝑅= (8)
𝐼
𝑅
𝐷 = [(2𝑞𝐽 1/2 ] (9)
𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 )
where I means the light intensity (100 mW/cm2), q refers the electron charge (1.6 × 10-19 C)
and Jsc, Jdark stands for the short-circuit current density and dark current density of the device,
respectively. According to table 3 the maximum R and D values of 1.46× 10-2 mA/W and 3.57
× 108 Jones were obtained for Al/0.075BFNT/Ag device, respectively, which is remarkably
larger than prior reports [53, 54].
The time dependent photocurrent density curve for all samples was measured under 100
mW/cm2 light irradiation with an ON/OFF switching time of 60 s and a bias of 10 V, as shown
in Fig. 6(b). It was found that the photocurrent density of all ceramic samples increased when
the light was turned on, then decayed and returned to its original state once the light source was
turned off. This clearly shows that all of the devices have a good ON/OFF switching response.
Fig. 6(c) displayed the performance of time resolved photocurrent density of BT and
0.075BFNT device. The photocurrent of both devices increased quickly when the light source
was turned on, followed by a modest improvement in Jsc, until achieving saturation. After the
light source is switched off, the photocurrent was rapidly falls for both the devices, then slowly
decays until returning to the initial condition of Jsc (dark current). Such rise and decay responses
of both devices were detected using exponential fitting of the experimental data using the
relation below;
−𝑡 −𝑡
𝐼 = 𝐼0 + [𝐶 𝑒𝑥𝑝 ( 𝜏 )] + [𝐷 𝑒𝑥𝑝 ( 𝜏 )] (10)
1 2
where I0 represents the steady state photocurrent, C and D are constants, t is time and 𝜏1 and 𝜏2
are the relaxation time constants [55]. The excellent fitted photo response curves of BT and
0.075BFNT samples as presented in fig. 6 (c) where 𝜏𝑟 and 𝜏𝑑 are time constants for rising and
decay edges, respectively. The estimated time constants of BT are: 𝜏𝑟1 = 7.5 s, 𝜏𝑟2 = 17.3 s,
𝜏𝑑1 = 10.1 s, 𝜏𝑑2 = 12.3 s and 0.075BFNT are: 𝜏𝑟1 = 7.0 s, 𝜏𝑟2 = 8.6 s, 𝜏𝑑1 = 10.6 s, 𝜏𝑑2 = 13
s. The rising constants are associated with the carrier creation process, whereas the decay
constants are associated with the carrier recombination process. As a result, BT has a longer
duration for carrier generation than 0.075BFNT, yet the decay constants of both devices are
comparable.
The PV properties of bulk BT ceramics depend on various factors such as material
thickness [56], the work function of the electrode material [23], light intensity [14], applied
poling field [17], electrical conduction and behavior of domain walls [13], ferroelectric
polarization [17] and electrode/ferroelectric/electrode interface [15, 23]. However, the bulk
photovoltaic effect is largely dependent on the interface of the top electrode/ferroelectric
material/bottom electrode architecture. According to Fan et al. the comparative study of the
bulk photovoltaic effect on Ti/BTO/SRO and Pt/BTO/SRO combinations revealed a short-
circuit current(Isc) of about 1.2 nA and 0.3 nA, respectively [57]. This result suggested that the
suppression of photocurrent in Pt/BTO/SRO interface was due to the large work function of
the Pt electrode (φPt = 5.5 eV) than Ti electrode (φTi = 4.33 eV). A similar PV study was
conducted for Mg/PLZT/ITO, Pt/PLZT/ITO, and Ag/PLZT/ITO cell configurations, where the
open-circuit voltage and short circuit current density increased in the order of large work
function metal electrodes to less work function metal electrodes [19]. Moreover, Subhajit Pal
et al. reported that the pure BT ceramics with a cell configuration of Ag/BT/Ag provide a Voc
of 2 V and Jsc of 3 nA/cm2 under the illumination of 160 mW/ cm2 with the device thickness
of about 0.5 mm [14]. Although in our case, Al/BT/Ag provides Jsc of 0.65 μA/cm2 and Voc of
3.4 V even under 100 mW/cm2 illumination with a similar thickness as pure BT. Here, the
height of the Schottky barrier (φB) can be determined by the difference between the work
function of the metal electrode (φM) and the electron affinity (χ) of FE material [58].
Considering that the work functions of Al and Ag are 4.125 eV and 4.48 eV respectively and
the electron affinity of BT is 3.8 eV [59], then φB= 0.325 eV (if Al is a top electrode) and φB=
0.68 eV (if Ag is a top electrode). Comparatively, the barrier height is much smaller when Al
works as the top electrode of the device than Ag. In addition, the enhancement of the PV
response in pure BT can originate from the coexistence of the tetragonal and orthorhombic
phases. According to the shift current theory, the enhancement of PV properties in KNbO3 is
achieved in excess in mixed of orthorhombic and rhombohedral phases compared to that of the
tetragonal phase [60]. Moreover, Kola et al. reported that maximum Voc was attained in B-site
doped BT at a larger orthorhombic phase than that of the tetragonal single phase [2]. Therefore,
the greater bulk PV response in pure BT in this study than in Subhajit Pal et al. [14] result is
based on the structural symmetry and low work function metal electrode.
The greatest variation in PV outcomes from metal substitution depends on the bandgap,
grain size, domain size, and dielectric and ferroelectric characteristics [13]. The existence of
an aliovalent Fe3+-Nb5+ pair in BaTiO3 greatly alters the properties of both the valence and
conduction bands, according to theoretical DFT calculation. The bandgap of the ferroelectric
material decreased considerably from 3.25 eV to 2.55 eV when B-site replacement increased.
This reduction in bandgap potentially absorbs the maximum visible region of the light source
as shows in fig. 5(a). Bandgap reduction is an important component covering a wide area of
the light source and is beneficial to increase the current density of the device. Additionally, the
XPS findings of fig. 3(b) demonstrated that the formation of minor oxygen vacancies was
obtained in 0.025BFNT, however in the 0.075BFNT sample, the oxygen vacancies were
substantially controlled by the lack of Fe2+ state. The oxygen vacancy suppression in
0.075BFNT increases the Jsc of the device more sharply than that in 0.025BFNT by reducing
the recombination between oxygen vacancies and hopping electrons.
Meanwhile, the open-circuit voltage of the device can be expressed as [61]
𝑉𝑜𝑐 = 𝐸𝑝𝑣 . 𝑑 (11)
where Epv denotes the photovoltaic field and d is the distance between the metal electrodes.
This equation suggests an anomalous photovoltaic effect, in which the open-circuit voltage of
the device is substantially higher than the bandgap of the material and is not constrained by the
bandgap of bulk ferroelectrics. For instance, A. M. Glass et al. in Fe-doped LiNbO3 [62]
attained the anomalous photovoltage of around 1,000 volts. Generally, the PV response of bulk
ferroelectrics depends on the grain size and domain size effect. In an earlier study, we described
the microstructure of Fe and Nb-modified BaTiO3. Currently, the microstructure of
0.075BFNT was analyzed and the results are shown in Fig. S5. Additionally, elemental analysis
of all samples was conducted using EDX mapping & spectra as depicted in Fig. S6; further
details regarding microstructure analysis can be found in Supporting Information. According
to Frank et al. it has been proposed that the generated high photovoltage in ceramics is
proportional to the number of grains, i.e., high photovoltage is generated from the summation
of individual photo-emf across the grains [63]. Consistent with this result, the number of grains
in smaller grain sizes is greater than in larger ones, resulting in higher output photovoltage with
increasing metal substitution. In addition, the grain size of BaTiO3 is co-related with the
domain size by the simple relationship as follows [64]
𝑑 ∝ 𝑔1/2 (12)
where g and d denote the grain and domain size of the ceramics, respectively. The domain size
will also be affected by changes in grain size. Earlier reports stated that the open-circuit voltage
of ferroelectrics was induced by the addition of an electrostatic potential difference between
the domain walls [13]. Here the grain size of BaTiO3 ceramics was decreased upon metal
substitution in the order of 3.6 μm, 0.68 μm and 0.51 μm for x=0.0, 0.025, and 0.05
respectively, from our previous findings [31] and fig. S5 reveals the grain size of x=0.075 was
0.14 μm. Thus, the smaller grain size results in smaller domain size and the smaller size of
domains have a larger number of domain walls and achieve a higher open-circuit voltage of
the device. As a result, the reduced grain size increased the photovoltage of the Al/BFNT/Ag
device.
The aforementioned findings demonstrated an inventive strategy to enhance both the
photocurrent and photovoltage of BFNT ceramics. Numerous investigations have
indicated that the large ferroelectric polarization is a crucial component for the anomalous
photovoltaic effect, in which the photovoltage of the ferroelectric material increases
substantially above the bandgap of the material meanwhile the generated photocurrent values
are very low in the range of nano to pico ampere [17, 24, 25]. Even for the pure BT sample,
the anomalous photovoltage of around 3.4 V was attained due to the larger polarization and
non-centrosymmetry orthorhombic + tetragonal phase structure, as confirmed by P-E loop and
ADXRD analysis respectively. However, the large anti-bonding property between Ti-3d and
O-2p results in a wide bandgap (Eg=3.25 eV), hence the generated photocurrent was quite low
(Jsc= 0.65 μA/cm2). According to the first-principle calculations based on the shift current
mechanism, maximum polarization is not a necessary condition for the BPV response, although
inversion symmetry must be broken [14, 65]. According to the above mechanism, the non-
centrosymmetric ferroelectric tetragonal phase coexists with the paraelectric cubic phase in
metal-substituted BT, as proven by ADXRD and Raman investigations, where the remnant
polarization was reduced compared to pure BT, but the photovoltaic parameters and PV power
(Voc × Jsc) of the 0.075BFNT device were remarkably improved and comparable with recent
studies, as shown in fig. 6(d) and table S7. Therefore, we concluded from the overall
experimental results and theoretical DFT calculations that the high photoresponsivity, large
detectivity of solar spectrum with concurrent enhancement of both photocurrent and
photovoltage in bulk ferroelectric BT is possible through appropriate co-substitution of
aliovalent Fe3+-Nb5+ pair, which is successfully tuning the bandgap to absorb abundant regions
of the solar spectrum, controlling oxygen vacancies to reduce the e-h recombination rate,
minimizing the grain size and using a low work function top electrode.
4. Conclusion:
In summary, the structural, optical, electrical and photovoltaic properties of BaTi1-
2xFexNbxO3 (x=0.0, 0.025, 0.05 and 0.075) were discussed. The synchrotron ADXRD data
combined with Raman spectra confirmed that the pure BT possesses the mixed phase of
tetragonal + orthorhombic at RT. Increasing the Fe3+ and Nb5+ substitution at B-site modifies
the structure to tetragonal + cubic symmetry, reducing octahedral tilt, and distortion along with
increasing internal stress field contributed to tuning the bandgap into a lower energy state of
2.55 eV and thus can efficiently absorb the larger area of the solar spectrum (~ 500 nm). To
comprehend the drastic decrement in the bandgap of BFNT samples from pristine BT, DFT
studies were carried out. It was found that the band gap value decreases drastically from 3.28
eV to 2.49 eV because of the aliovalent Fe3+-Nb5+ ions contributions to the valance and
conduction band. The tuned bandgap develops the metal-oxygen covalent character and
enhances the charge carrier mobility of the device. Further, XPS analysis depicted a clear
picture about suppression of oxygen vacancies in 0.075BFNT through Fe-2p and O-1s spectra.
Meanwhile, the grain size reduction is responsible for the continuous growth of Voc. From time
resolved J-t fitted curves, the slow response rise time constant was improved for 0.075BFNT
than BT device. Here, the simultaneous enhancement of Jsc and Voc does not follow the
maximum polarization concept. Finally, an apt top electrode, reduced bandgap, small grain size
and suppression of oxygen vacancies are contributed to enhance the PV power of
Al/0.075BFNT/Ag device to ~12 μW/cm2.
Acknowledgment:
This study was financially funded by the University Grant Commission-Basic Science
Research Fellowship scheme (F.No:25-1/2014-15(BSR)/7-305/2010/(BSR), and L. Venkidu is
thankful to the government of India for funding this study. The author also thanks Dr. A.K
Sinhan, Dr. Archana Sagdeo, and Mr. Mandvendra Narayanan Singh, Raja Ramanna Centre
for Advanced Technology, Indore, India, for their help in Angle Dispersive X-ray Diffraction
(ADXRD) beamline-12 (BL-12) at Indus-2 synchrotron radian source. The fabrication of the
mask (Al/BFNT/Ag) was carried out at the Center for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE),
Indian Insitute of Science, Bangaluru, under the INUP program funded by the Ministry of
Education (MoE), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and
Nanomission, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. The author
L.Venkidu sincerely thanks Ms. Adithi for their help during the mask fabrication. SERB grant
(CRG/2019/006990) is also acknowledged for the P-E loop tester. N. Raja gratefully
acknowledges C. Kamal, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, India for
the fruitful discussions and help in calculations. N. Raja also acknowledges Rajesh Ravindran
and The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India.
Author Contributions
The corresponding author, Dr. B. Sundarakannan is responsible for ensuring that the
descriptions are accurate and agreed by all authors. The role(s) of all authors is listed as follows,
L.Venkidu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing - Original Draft
N. Raja: DFT Validation and Investigation
B. Sundarakannan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Writing -
Review & Editing
Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the
corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Figure captions
Fig.1. (a) ADXRD patterns of BT and BFNT samples at RT. (b) Enlarged (002), (200)
reflections from BT and BFNT samples. Rietveld refinement of pure BT refined with (c)
P4mm (d) P4mm + Amm2 space groups (e-g) Rietveld refinement ADXRD patterns of
0.025BFNT, 0.05BFNT and 0.075BFNT ceramics.
Fig.2. Enlarged view of two nearby linked TiO6 octahedra with octahedral tilting of (a) BT and
(b) 0.075BFNT samples.
Fig.3. (a) XPS binding energy spectra of Ti-peak shifting and high-resolution core-level
spectra of (b) Fe-2p, (c) Nb-3d and (d) O-1s elements.
Fig.4. Polarization- Electric field (P-E) hysteresis loop of BT and BFNT samples at RT.
Fig.5. Absorption spectra of BT and BFNT samples as a function of (a) wavelength, and (b)
Tauc’s plot. The total density of states (TDOS) and projected density of states (PDOS) for the
structures (c) tetragonal BT and (d) cubic 0.075BFNT. (In both graphs, the Fermi level is set
to zero.)
Fig.6. (a) J-V characteristics of BT and BFNT samples. (b) Time-dependent photocurrent
density (J-t) curve. (c) Time-resolved photocurrent density rise and decay curves of BT and
0.075BFNT device (d) Graph comparing Voc, Jsc and PV power of BFNT with other BT-based
ferroelectric photovoltaics.
Table captions:
1. Deconvolution of O-1s peak parameters for BT and BFNT samples obtained from XPS
measurement.
2. Bandgap (Eg), Bandwidth (EB), 𝜂, and probability of d-orbital mixing obtained for BT and
BNFT samples.
3. Photovoltaic parameters determined for BT and BFNT samples.
Table 1
Sample O(I) O(II) (%) O(III)(%)
Binding Peak Binding Peak Binding Peak
energy area energy area energy area
(eV) (%) (eV) (%) (eV) (%)
BT 528.17 28.27 533.59 67.52 537.83 4.21
0.025BFNT 527.48 26.59 531.41 70.15 534.06 3.24
0.075BFNT 527.64 33.79 530.43 55.73 532.17 10.46
Table 2
Sample Eg (eV) EB (eV) 𝜂 rd (%)
BT 3.25 3.26 0.49816 15
0.025BFNT 2.68 3.14 0.42814 18
0.05BFNT 2.64 3.12 0.42290 18.5
0.075BFNT 2.55 3.10 0.37958 19

Table 3
Sample Jsc Voc FF η R D
(μA/cm2) (Volts) (%) (mA/W) (× 108
Jones)
BT 0.69 3.40 0.290 0.0006 0.0069 1.688
0.025BFNT 0.22 5.14 0.297 0.0003 0.0022 0.538
0.05BFNT 0.97 7.68 0.307 0.0022 0.0097 2.373
0.075BFNT 1.46 8.31 0.332 0.0041 0.0146 3.572

Figure-1 Click here to access/download;Figure(s);1ab.tif
Figure-2 Click here to access/download;Figure(s);2a b tilt re.tif
Figure-3 Click here to access/download;Figure(s);3ccc (1).tiff
Figure-4 Click here to access/download;Figure(s);4.tif
Figure-5 Click here to access/download;Figure(s);5.tif
Figure-6 Click here to access/download;Figure(s);6 final.tif
Supplementary and Electronic files
Click here to access/download

Supplementary and Electronic files
supporting information.docx
Declaration of Interest Statement
Declaration of interests
√ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal
relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
☐ The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be
considered as potential competing interests:

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Impact of charge-compensated Fe and Nb co-substitution on BaTiO3: bandgap and

Manuscript Number: SEJ-D-22-03508R1

Article Type: Research paper

Section/Category: Photovoltaic materials, cells and systems

Keywords: Bandgap; Photocurrent; Open circuit voltage; Ferroelectric Photovoltaic

Corresponding Author: Sundarakannan B, Ph.D

First Author: L. Venkidu

Order of Authors: L. Venkidu

Suggested Reviewers: Tansir Ahamad

Sub.: Submission of a manuscript to Solar Energy -Reg.,

Detailed response to the reviewers

Dr. Giribabu Lingamallu, Ph.D

Title of the manuscript: "Impact of charge-compensated Fe and Nb co-substitution on

Al/BFNT/Ag solar cell"

details by the reviewers.

in the revised manuscript.

Response to the Reviewer- 1

BaTiO3 is insufficient. The following key papers must be included.

i). A. Zenkevich et al. PHYSICAL REVIEW B 90, 161409(R) (2014), Doi:

iii) G. Baiju et al. Solar Energy, 2021, 224,93-101. DoI: 10.1016/j.solener.2021.05.063

iv) V. M. Fridkin, Ferroelectrics, 2015, 484, 1-13. DOI: 10.1080/00150193.2015.1059151

respectively and are highlighted in the revised manuscript.

Errors in fitting parameters must be present.

newly introduced in the revised manuscript as per the reviewer’s suggestion.

using λ= 0.9654 Å the angle-dispersive X-ray diffraction (ADXRD) at the beamline-12

added in supporting information. To determine the bandgap of the samples, a diffuse

enough to avoid obscurity

addressed in the revised manuscript in the following way:

centered oxygen ion (Ti4+-O2--Ti4+).

equation (2) is rewritten as given below in the revised manuscript.

of a ubiquitous carbon (C1s) peak in carbon-free samples is due to atmospheric carbon

(https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03900-y). However, no significant shift was observed in

carbonate species (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03900-y).

photovoltaic effect…..This is not an uncommon observation, as claimed. There has been a

wealth of reports available on this effect.

exhibited an abnormal photovoltaic effect, which is frequently reported

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-26205-x). However, as mentioned in the introduction

that of several BFPV reports (Table S7).

8. An EDX mapping/spectrum of grains observed in SEM images must be provided in the

S6 (a, b, c, d) and discussed in the microstructure analysis portion of the supporting

0.05BFNT and 0.075BFNT.

on the previously published reports (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.085122;

Dresden-Rossendorf), Germany, and NANDADEVI clusters in Institute of Mathematical

Science, Taramani, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.

replacement are only possible configurations.

supercell, twelve different configurations of particularly substituted systems are feasible

widening the energy bandgap of the BFNT (https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c10655).

Therefore, the remaining eight symmetrically non-degenerate configurations, as illustrated in

(https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/823498). On the other hand, fig. 5(d), the substitution of Fe and

effectively separates the photogenerated electron-hole pair

(https://doi.org/10.1080/00150193.2018.1528958). Furthermore, this hybridization between

of CBM combined with an increase in mobility of photogenerated charge carriers along VB

add a short description about this here.

displacement due to localized Fe orbital resulting in lower polarization observed in BFNT

literature, we didn’t consider the U correction for Ti ion (

DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/124/27005). Further for DOS calculations, hybrid functional

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.8b00492). As per the Fe-ion is concerned one needs to

results so the U term is only considered for Fe ion.

of figures, at least in this version, is not good enough

as in the supporting information.

Impact of charge-compensated Fe and Nb co-substitution on BaTiO3: bandgap and grain

L.Venkidua, N. Rajaa&b and B.Sundarakannana*