We present a novel heterostructured approach to disentangle the mechanism of electrical transport of the strongly correlated $\mathrm{PrNi}{\mathrm{O}}_3$, by placing the nickelate under the photoconductor CdS. This enables the injection of carriers into $\mathrm{PrNi}{\mathrm{O}}_3$ in a controlled way, which can be used to interrogate its intrinsic transport mechanism. We find a nonvolatile resistance decrease when illuminating the system at temperatures below the $\mathrm{PrNi}{\mathrm{O}}_3$ metal-insulator transition. The photoinduced change becomes more volatile as the temperature increases. These data help understand the intrinsic transport properties of the nickelate-CdS bilayer. Together with data from a bare $\mathrm{PrNi}{\mathrm{O}}_3$ film, we find that the transport mechanism includes a combination of mechanisms, including both thermal activation and variable range hopping. At low temperatures without photoinduced carriers, the transport is governed by hopping, while at higher temperatures and intense illumination the activation mechanism becomes relevant. This work shows a new way to control optically control the low-temperature resistance of $\mathrm{PrNi}{\mathrm{O}}_3$.

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• Electrical properties
• Phase transitions
• Photoinduced effect
• Resistive switching
• Transport phenomena