Ferroelectric Photovoltaic Pyroelectric Coupling Effect: Mechanism and Applications

With the increasing global demand for renewable energy, solar energy has attracted considerable attention due to its clean nature and abundant availability. Ferroelectric materials, featuring spontaneous polarization and external-field tunability, offer unique advantages in solar energy conversion. Benefiting from their intrinsic polarization field, ferroelectric materials can efficiently separate photogenerated carriers and generate bulk photovoltaic voltages beyond the bandgap limit. Moreover, by integrating pyroelectric properties, the ferroelectric photovoltaic pyroelectric coupling effect (FPPCE) enables the synergistic regulation of polarization and pyroelectric fields, significantly enhancing carrier separation and transport, thus improving photovoltaic conversion efficiency. This review systematically summarizes the fundamental mechanisms, performance modulation strategies, and potential applications of FPPCE, with a particular focus on the influence of material dimensionality, interface engineering, and stress regulation. The applications of FPPCE in solar devices, self-powered sensors, and smart building systems are also discussed. Finally, future research directions such as machine-learning-assisted material design and multi-coupled energy chemistry are highlighted, aiming to provide new insights for the design and development of high-performance ferroelectric multi-field energy conversion systems.