Giant Photostriction and Optically Modulated Ferroelectricity in BiFeO₃

H Zhang^{1

2}, M C Nagashree³, R F Webster^{2

4}, J Edwards¹, B V Rajendra³, S D Kulkarni⁵, T Yousaf², D Zhang^{2

6}, A Gruverman⁷, J Seidel^{2

6}, P Sharma^{1

6

8}

Affiliations

¹ College of Science and Engineering, Flinders Microscopy and Microanalysis, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
³ Department of Physics, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, India.
⁴ Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁵ Department of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, India.
⁶ ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0299, United States.
⁸ Flinders Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia.

PMID: 40952986
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5c05203

Giant Photostriction and Optically Modulated Ferroelectricity in BiFeO₃

H Zhang et al. ACS Nano. 2025.

. 2025 Sep 30;19(38):33780-33788.

doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5c05203. Epub 2025 Sep 15.

Authors

H Zhang^{1

2}, M C Nagashree³, R F Webster^{2

4}, J Edwards¹, B V Rajendra³, S D Kulkarni⁵, T Yousaf², D Zhang^{2

6}, A Gruverman⁷, J Seidel^{2

6}, P Sharma^{1

6

8}

Affiliations

¹ College of Science and Engineering, Flinders Microscopy and Microanalysis, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
³ Department of Physics, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, India.
⁴ Electron Microscope Unit, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁵ Department of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, India.
⁶ ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0299, United States.
⁸ Flinders Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia.

PMID: 40952986
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5c05203

Abstract

BiFeO₃ thin films, with their intertwined lattice, charge, and spin orders, hold immense potential for next-generation optomechanical applications. However, their photostrictive response remains underexplored and typically demands high optical power. Here, we demonstrate a strong photostriction effect in nanocrystalline BiFeO₃ thin films synthesized via scalable chemical spray pyrolysis─activated under relatively low optical powers (∼1.7 × 10⁴ W m^-2). This phenomenon is accompanied by light-driven enhancements in piezoelectricity and polarization switching together with a dense network of domain walls promoting efficient exciton separation in unconstrained nanocrystalline BiFeO₃ films. The nanostructured films exhibit a photostriction coefficient of ∼4.5 × 10^-7 m² W^-1─five times higher than bulk BiFeO₃ single crystals and rivaling state-of-the-art halide perovskites. These findings offer valuable insights and provide a way forward for integrating solution-processed bismuth ferrite films into advanced photosensors, wireless optomechanical and multifunctional devices.

Keywords: bismuth ferrite; multiferroics; optomechanics; photostriction; polarization switching.

PubMed Disclaimer

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
- American Chemical Society

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Giant Photostriction and Optically Modulated Ferroelectricity in BiFeO₃

Affiliations

Giant Photostriction and Optically Modulated Ferroelectricity in BiFeO₃

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources