Abstract The ability to reconfigure spin structure and spin-photon interactions by an external electric field is a prerequisite for seamless integration of opto-spintronics into modern electronics. In this work, the use of electric field on the tuning of circular photo galvanic effect in a quasi-2D oxyhalide perovskite Bi4NbO8Cl is reported.

Abstract Pyroelectricity describes the generation of electricity by temporal temperature change in polar materials. When free-standing pyroelectric materials approach the 2D crystalline limit, how pyroelectricity behaves remained largely unknown. Here, using three model pyroelectric materials whose bonding characters along the out-of-plane direction vary from van der Waals (In2Se3), quasi-van der Waals (CsBiNb2O7) to ionic/covalent (ZnO), we experimentally show the dimensionality effect on pyroelectricity and the relation between lattice dynamics and pyroelectricity.

Incommensurate domain boundaries simulation via Voronoi tessellation.

Abstract The theoretical Shockley–Queisser limit of photon–electricity conversion in a conventional p–n junction could be potentially overcome by the bulk photovoltaic effect that uniquely occurs in non-centrosymmetric materials. Using strain-gradient engineering, the flexo-photovoltaic effect, that is, the strain-gradient-induced bulk photovoltaic effect, can be activated in centrosymmetric semiconductors, considerably expanding material choices for future sensing and energy applications.

Azimuthal RHEED study about monolayer MoS2.