Programmable Anomalous Photovoltaics Enabled by Light-Electric Dual-Field Control.
Tonghuan Fu1, Kejun Bu1, Genchang Gou2
1Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR), Shanghai201203, China.
Journal of the American Chemical Society
|July 8, 2026
Summary
Researchers developed a new light-electric dual-field programming method for photovoltaic devices. This approach enables selector-free, reconfigurable energy systems with improved efficiency and information processing capabilities.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Optoelectronics
- Energy Storage
Background:
- Current programmable photovoltaic devices face limitations due to single-field modulation, restricting spatial selectivity and operational efficiency.
- Existing approaches often involve complex device architectures and lack independent control over addressing and state switching.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel light-electric dual-field programming paradigm for photovoltaic systems.
- To decouple addressing from state switching using light as an independent control dimension.
- To enable selector-free, nonvolatile, and reconfigurable photovoltaic functionalities.
Main Methods:
- Utilized anomalous photovoltaic effects in van der Waals ZnIn2S4 as a model system.
- Implemented spatially resolved illumination for addressing and a global electric field for state switching.
- Investigated the role of [ZnS4] tetrahedral distortion and pressure modulation on device performance.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated nonvolatile, reconfigurable states in photovoltaic devices with over 100 days of retention.
- Achieved selector-free operation without the need for per-pixel wiring.
- Showcased self-powered visual information processing with 87.9% accuracy in noisy image classification.
Conclusions:
- Dual-field programming offers a powerful strategy to overcome limitations of single-field control in photovoltaic systems.
- Leveraging light as an independent control dimension enables advanced optoelectronic architectures and programmable photovoltaics.
- The developed method paves the way for efficient, integrated energy conversion and information processing devices.
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