Ag-Bi-I rudorffites for solar-cell applications: Insights on their structures, electronic and optical properties from first-principles
Résumé
Lead halide perovskites exhibit excellent photovoltaic properties and over the past years have revolutionized the field of solution processed photovoltaics, achieving record power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of above 25.5%. Yet, due to concerns raised regarding the presence of the nonenvironmentally friendly Pb-atoms, the quest for stable non-toxic materials with high photo-conversion efficiency remains an active topic of research. In 2017, silver bismuth halides with an AaBbXx (x = a+3b) lattice, were shown to be highly stable and promising candidate materials for solar cell applications. These compounds, also called rudorffites, exhibit optical band gaps ranging between 1.4 eV to 2.0 eV, impressive high short-circuit current [4,5] and have achieved PCE of up to 5.6%.