The Local-Scale Origin of Ferroic Properties in BiVO.

Earth-abundant metal oxides are excellent candidates for photocatalytic applications due to their low cost and high stability in aqueous solutions. Materials that contain a combination of metal cations with an electron lone pair and a electronic configuration, such as BiVO, possess favorable band gaps. BiVO has also been reported to possess noncentrosymmetric polar properties, such as flexoelectricity, piezo-photocatalysis, and an anomalous photovoltaic effect, despite its centrosymmetric crystal structure.