Abstract
Self-powered ferroelectric photodetectors offer an attractive platform for low-power optoelectronics, exploiting intrinsic bulk photovoltaic effects to achieve bias-free operation. However, their practical deployment has been hindered by slow temporal response and photocurrent drift, mainly due to inefficient thermal dissipation that leads to temperature buildup within the device under continuous illumination. Here, we report a thermal-diffusion-engineering approach that reconfigures the thermal environment of ferroelectric device to suppress lateral heat dissipation and enable efficient vertical heat extraction. Compared to conventional architecture, the engineered drift-free device exhibits a photoresponse speed improvement of over three orders of magnitude, along with complete drift suppression, enabling high-fidelity imaging with minimal crosstalk. Infrared thermography and COMSOL simulations confirm distinct thermal environment in conventional and drift-free devices, revealing strong heat accumulation in conventional and efficient heat extraction in drift-free architectures. This work highlights thermal diffusion engineering as a key device-design parameter for enhancing ferroelectric optoelectronic performance, paving the way for scalable, bias-free energy-harvesting photodetectors and neuromorphic imaging systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data that supports the plots within this paper and other findings of the study are provided in supplementary information.
References
Dai, Y. et al. Self-Powered Si/CdS flexible photodetector with broadband response from 325 to 1550nm based on pyro-phototronic effect: an approach for photosensing below bandgap energy. Adv. Mater. 30, 1705893 (2018).
Zhou, Y. et al. Self-powered perovskite photon-counting detectors. Nature 616, 712–718 (2023).
Han, S. et al. Tailoring of a visible-light-absorbing biaxial ferroelectric towards broadband self-driven photodetection. Nat. Commun. 12, 284 (2021).
Wang, H. et al. A Self-powered, shapeable, and wearable sensor for effective hazard prevention and biomechanical monitoring. SmartSys 1, e3 (2025).
Dong, F. et al. Skin-integrated wearable electronics: a dual-interface perspective. SmartSys 1, e70013 (2025).
Martin, L. W. et al. Thin-film ferroelectric materials and their applications. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2, 16087 (2017).
Wang, X. et al. Ultrasensitive and broadband MoS2 photodetector driven by ferroelectrics. Adv. Mater. 27, 6575–6581 (2015).
Wu, S. et al. Ultra-sensitive polarization-resolved black phosphorus homojunction photodetector defined by ferroelectric domains. Nat. Commun. 13, 3198 (2022).
Yoshioka, K. et al. Ultrafast intrinsic optical-to-electrical conversion dynamics in a graphene photodetector. Nat. Photonics 16, 718–723 (2022).
Liu, Y. et al. Ultrafast and ultra-broadband ferroelectric photo-pyroelectric detectors with long-term stability. Adv. Funct. Mater. 35, 2502467 (2025).
Hu, C. et al. Quantifying the pyroelectric and photovoltaic coupling series of ferroelectric films. Nat. Commun. 16, 828 (2025).
Yang, S. Y. et al. Above-bandgap voltages from ferroelectric photovoltaic devices. Nat. Nanotechnol. 5, 143–147 (2010).
Yang, X. et al. Enhancement of photocurrent in ferroelectric films via the incorporation of narrow bandgap nanoparticles. Adv. Mater. 24, 1202–1208 (2012).
Rubio-Marcos, F. et al. Reversible optical control of macroscopic polarization in ferroelectrics. Nat. Photon. 12, 29–32 (2018).
Choi, T. et al. Switchable ferroelectric diode and photovoltaic effect in BiFeO3. Science 324, 63–66 (2009).
Yi, H. T. et al. Mechanism of the switchable photovoltaic effect in ferroelectric BiFeO3. Adv. Mater. 23, 3403–3407 (2011).
Nechache, R. et al. Bandgap tuning of multiferroic oxide solar cells. Nat. Photon. 9, 61–67 (2014).
Li, Z. et al. Self-powered visible light photodetector based on BixFeO3 film. Ceram. Int. 48, 2811–2819 (2022).
Xing, J. et al. High-sensitive switchable photodetector based on BiFeO3 film with in-plane polarization. Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 033504 (2015).
Dho, J. et al. Large electric polarization and exchange bias in multiferroic BiFeO3. Adv. Mater. 18, 1445–1448 (2006).
Liou, Y. D. et al. Deterministic optical control of room temperature multiferroicity in BiFeO3 thin films. Nat. Mater. 18, 580–587 (2019).
Long, L. et al. Regulation of multiferroicity in BiFe1-xCrxO3 thin films fabricated employing sol-gel process. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 33, 11308–11317 (2022).
Rovillain, P. et al. Electric-field control of spin waves at room temperature in multiferroic BiFeO3. Nat. Mater. 9, 975–979 (2010).
Kathirvel, A. et al. BiFeO3-thiourea/carbon heterostructure based self-powered white light photodetector. Mater. Lett. 284, 128906 (2021).
Xu, A. et al. Enhanced photoelectric and thermoelectric coupling factor in BiMn2O5 ferroelectric film. Adv. Powder Mater. 4, 100260 (2025).
Wu, B. O. et al. Indirect tail states formation by thermal-induced polar fluctuations in halide perovskites. Nat. Commun. 10, 484 (2019).
Bansal, S. et al. Design and TCAD analysis of few-layer graphene/ZnO nanowires heterojunction-based photodetector in UV spectral region. Sci. Rep. 15, 17762 (2025).
Mahapatra, A. et al. Understanding the origin of light intensity and temperature dependence of photodetection properties in a MAPbBr3 single-crystal-based photoconductor. ACS Photonics 10, 1424–1433 (2023).
Kim, Y. M. et al. Direct observation of ferroelectric field effect and vacancy-controlled screening at the BiFeO3/LaxSr1- xMnO3 interface. Nat. Mater. 13, 1019–1025 (2014).
Le, H. K. et al. Room-temperature ferroelectric epitaxial nanowire arrays with photoluminescence. Nano Lett. 24, 5189–5196 (2024).
Ma, C. H. et al. Van der Waals epitaxy of functional MoO2 film on mica for flexible electronics. Appl. Phys. Lett. 25, 108 (2016).
Whatmore, R. W. Pyroelectric devices and materials. Rep. Prog. Phys. 49, 1335–1386 (1986).
You, L. et al. Enhancing ferroelectric photovoltaic effect by polar order engineering. Sci. Adv. 4, eaat3438 (2018).
Qi, J. et al. Enhanced photocurrent in BiFeO3 materials by coupling temperature and thermo-phototronic effects for self-powered ultraviolet photodetector system. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10, 13712–13719 (2018).
Viana, E. R. et al. Photoluminescence and high-temperature persistent photoconductivity experiments in SnO2 nanobelts. J. Phys. Chem. C 117, 7844–7849 (2013).
Ma, S. et al. Boosting the photoresponse speed of visible-light-active bismuth ferrite thin films based on Fe-site substitution strategy and favorable heterostructure design. Appl. Surf. Sci. 590, 153054 (2022).
Yang, L. et al. Boosted photocurrent via heating BiFeO3 thin film for UV photodetector at wide temperature range. Adv. Funct. Mater. 33, 2303408 (2023).
Lam, S. M. et al. A newly emerging visible light-responsive BiFeO3 perovskite for photocatalytic applications: a mini review. Mater. Res. Bull. 90, 15–30 (2017).
Mondal, S. et al. Efficient flexible white-light photodetectors based on BiFeO3 nanoparticles. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 1, 625–631 (2018).
Upadhyay, R. K. et al. Solid-state synthesized BiFeO3 perovskite-based fast-response white-light photodetector. IEEE Electron Device Lett. 41, 1225–1228 (2020).
Biswas, P. P. et al. Polarization driven self-biased and enhanced UV-visible photodetector characteristics of ferroelectric thin film. J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 53, 275302 (2020).
Wang, J. et al. Ferroelectric photodetector with high current on-off ratio (∼1 × 104%) in self-assembled topological nanoislands. ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 1, 862–868 (2019).
Ma, G. et al. A broadband UV-visible photodetector based on a Ga2O3/BFO heterojunction. Phys. Scr. 96, 125823 (2021).
Jia, C. et al. Ferroelectrically modulated and enhanced photoresponse in a self-powered α-In2Se3/Si heterojunction photodetector. ACS Nano 17, 6534–6544 (2023).
Stewart, J. W. et al. Nanophotonic engineering: A new paradigm for spectrally sensitive thermal photodetectors. ACS Photonics 8, 71–84 (2020).
Qi, J. et al. Photovoltaic-pyroelectric coupled effect based nanogenerators for self-powered photodetector system. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 5, 1701189 (2018).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key R & D Project from the Ministry of Science and Technology in China (Grant No. 2021YFA1201604), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2244109), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. JQ21007), the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. Y8540XX2D2), and the ANSO (Alliance of International Science Organizations).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Y.Y. conceived the idea and supervised the project. J.Z.M. and C.G. synthesized the composite materials. J.Z.M., W.Q., and L.X. carried out the device fabrication and electrical measurements. J.Z.M. carried out the theoretical simulations. J.Z.M., W.Q., L.X., C.G. and Y.Y. analyzed the experimental data. J.Z.M., L.X., C.R.B. and Y.Y. co-wrote the manuscript. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Peer review
Peer review information
Nature Communications thanks Mohit Kumar, Thomas Pucher and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Minhas, J.Z., Qian, W., Xu, L. et al. Drift-free ferroelectric photodetection with fast temporal response via thermal diffusion engineering. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69908-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69908-w
