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.
Zhang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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