Strongly Enhanced Photovoltaic Performance and Defect Physics of Air‐Stable Bismuth Oxyiodide (BiOI)
[1];
- Cavendish Laboratory University of Cambridge JJ Thomson Ave Cambridge CB3 0HE UK, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy University of Cambridge 27 Charles Babbage Rd Cambridge CB3 0FS UK, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA 02139 USA
- Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy University of Cambridge 27 Charles Babbage Rd Cambridge CB3 0FS UK
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA 02139 USA
- Colorado School of Mines Golden CO 80401 USA, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Golden CO 80401 USA
Bismuth‐based compounds have recently gained increasing attention as potentially nontoxic and defect‐tolerant solar absorbers. However, many of the new materials recently investigated show limited photovoltaic performance. Herein, one such compound is explored in detail through theory and experiment: bismuth oxyiodide (BiOI). BiOI thin films are grown by chemical vapor transport and found to maintain the same tetragonal phase in ambient air for at least 197 d. The computations suggest BiOI to be tolerant to antisite and vacancy defects. All‐inorganic solar cells (ITO|NiO x |BiOI|ZnO|Al) with negligible hysteresis and up to 80% external quantum efficiency under select monochromatic excitation are demonstrated. The short‐circuit current densities and power conversion efficiencies under AM 1.5G illumination are nearly double those of previously reported BiOI solar cells, as well as other bismuth halide and chalcohalide photovoltaics recently explored by many groups. Through a detailed loss analysis using optical characterization, photoemission spectroscopy, and device modeling, direction for future improvements in efficiency is provided. This work demonstrates that BiOI, previously considered to be a poor photocatalyst, is promising for photovoltaics.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Next Generation of Materials by Design: Incorporating Metastability (CNGMD)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- DE‐AC36‐08GO28308; DE‐SC0001088; AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1373141
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1373142; OSTI ID: 1394737
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5K00-68975; 1702176
- Journal Information:
- Advanced Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Materials Vol. 29 Journal Issue: 36; ISSN 0935-9648
- Publisher:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- Germany
- Language:
- English
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