Kwak, C.K., Barrows, A.T., Pearson, A.J. et al. (2 more authors) (2017) An X-ray scattering and electron microscopy study of methylammonium bismuth perovskites for solar cell applications. Journal of Materials Research, 32 (9). pp. 1888-1898. ISSN 0884-2914
Abstract
Photovoltaics made from organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite semiconductors are attracting significant interest due to their ability to harvest sunlight with remarkable efficiency. The presence of lead in the best performing devices raises concerns regarding their toxicity, a problem that may create barriers to commercialization. Hybrid perovskites with reduced lead content are being investigated to overcome this issue and here we evaluate bismuth as a possible lead substitute. For a series of hybrid perovskite films with the general composition CH3NH3(PbyBi1−y)I3−xClx, we characterize their optical and structural properties using UV–Vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and grazing incidence wide angle X-ray scattering. We show that they form crystalline structures with an optical band gap, around 2 eV for CH3NH3BiI3. However, preliminary solar cell tests show low power conversion efficiencies (<0.01%) due to both incomplete precursor conversion and material de-wetting from the substrate. The overall outcome is severely limited photocurrent. With current processing methods the general applicability of hybrid bismuth perovskites in photovoltaics may be limited.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 Cambridge University Press. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in the Journal of Materials Research. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL (EPSRC) EP/M025020/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 28 Apr 2017 12:09 |
Last Modified: | 30 Jun 2023 08:31 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1557/jmr.2016.499 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:115747 |