Dual-source evaporation of silver bismuth iodide films for planar junction solar cells

Khazaee, Maryam; Sardashti, Kasra; Chung, Ching-Chang; Sun, Jon-Paul; Zhou, Hanhan; Bergmann, Eric; Dunlap-Shohl, Wiley A.; Han, Qiwei; Hill, Ian G.; Jones, Jacob L; Lupascu, Doru C.; Mitzi, David B.

doi:10.1039/c8ta08679f

Dual-source evaporation of silver bismuth iodide films for planar junction solar cells

Journal Article · Fri Dec 28 04:00:00 EST 2018 · Journal of Materials Chemistry. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ta08679f· OSTI ID:1613380

Khazaee, Maryam ^[1]; Sardashti, Kasra ^[2]; Chung, Ching-Chang ^[3]; Sun, Jon-Paul ^[4]; Zhou, Hanhan ^[3]; Bergmann, Eric ^[5]; Dunlap-Shohl, Wiley A. ^[2]; Han, Qiwei ^[2]; ^[5]; Jones, Jacob L ^[3]; Lupascu, Doru C. ^[6]; ^[2]

Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States); Univ. of Duisburg-Essen (Germany); DOE/OSTI
Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States); Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, NS (Canada)
Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, NS (Canada)
Univ. of Duisburg-Essen (Germany)

Non-toxic and air-stable silver bismuth iodide semiconductors are promising light absorber candidates for photovoltaic applications owing to a suitable band gap for multi- or single-junction solar cells. Recently, solution-based film fabrication approaches for several silver bismuth iodide stoichiometries have been investigated. The current work reports on a facile and reproducible two-step coevaporation/annealing approach to deposit compact and pinhole-free films of AgBi₂I₇, AgBiI₄ and Ag₂BiI₅. X-ray diffraction (XRD) in combination with scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis reveals formation of pure cubic (Fd$$\bar{3}$$m) with combining macron]m) phase AgBi₂I₇, cubic (Fd$$\bar{3}$$m) or rhombohedra (R$$\bar{3}$$m with combining macron]m) phase AgBiI₄, each with >3 μm average grain size, or the rhombohedral phase (R$$\bar{3}$$m) Ag₂BiI₅ with >200 nm average grain size. A phase transition from rhombohedral to cubic structure is investigated via temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction (TD-XRD). Planar-junction photovoltaic (PV) devices are prepared based on the coevaporated rhombohedral AgBiI₄ films, with titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as electron- and hole-transport layers, respectively. Finally, the best-performing device exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of as high as 0.9% with open-circuit voltage (VOC) > 0.8 V in the reverse scan direction (with significant hysteresis).

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006712

OSTI ID:: 1613380

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1490501

Journal Information:: Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, Journal Name: Journal of Materials Chemistry. A Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 7; ISSN 2050-7488

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (59)

High Charge Carrier Mobilities and Lifetimes in Organolead Trihalide Perovskites Wehrenfennig, Christian; Eperon, Giles E.; Johnston, Michael B. Advanced Materials, Vol. 26, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201305172	journal	December 2013
Bismuth Based Hybrid Perovskites A ₃ Bi ₂ I ₉ (A: Methylammonium or Cesium) for Solar Cell Application Park, Byung-Wook; Philippe, Bertrand; Zhang, Xiaoliang Advanced Materials, Vol. 27, Issue 43 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201501978	journal	September 2015
Interfaces in Perovskite Solar Cells Fakharuddin, Azhar; Schmidt-Mende, Lukas; Garcia-Belmonte, Germà Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 7, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201700623	journal	August 2017
Superior Performance of Silver Bismuth Iodide Photovoltaics Fabricated via Dynamic Hot-Casting Method under Ambient Conditions Ghosh, Biplab; Wu, Bo; Guo, Xintong Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 33 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201802051	journal	October 2018
The Role of Oxygen in the Degradation of Methylammonium Lead Trihalide Perovskite Photoactive Layers Aristidou, Nicholas; Sanchez-Molina, Irene; Chotchuangchutchaval, Thana Angewandte Chemie, Vol. 127, Issue 28 https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201503153	journal	May 2015
Pure Cubic-Phase Hybrid Iodobismuthates AgBi ₂ I ₇ for Thin-Film Photovoltaics Kim, Younghoon; Yang, Zhenyu; Jain, Ankit Angewandte Chemie, Vol. 128, Issue 33 https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201603608	journal	June 2016
The Role of Oxygen in the Degradation of Methylammonium Lead Trihalide Perovskite Photoactive Layers Aristidou, Nicholas; Sanchez-Molina, Irene; Chotchuangchutchaval, Thana Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 54, Issue 28 https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201503153	journal	May 2015
Pure Cubic-Phase Hybrid Iodobismuthates AgBi ₂ I ₇ for Thin-Film Photovoltaics Kim, Younghoon; Yang, Zhenyu; Jain, Ankit Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 55, Issue 33 https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201603608	journal	June 2016
Bandgap Engineering of Lead-Free Double Perovskite Cs ₂ AgBiBr ₆ through Trivalent Metal Alloying Du, Ke-zhao; Meng, Weiwei; Wang, Xiaoming Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 56, Issue 28 https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201703970	journal	June 2017
High Photon-to-Current Conversion in Solar Cells Based on Light-Absorbing Silver Bismuth Iodide Zhu, Huimin; Pan, Mingao; Johansson, Malin B. ChemSusChem, Vol. 10, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201700634	journal	June 2017
Photovoltaic Rudorffites: Lead-Free Silver Bismuth Halides Alternative to Hybrid Lead Halide Perovskites Turkevych, Ivan; Kazaoui, Said; Ito, Eisuke ChemSusChem, Vol. 10, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201700980	journal	July 2017
Solution-Processed Air-Stable Copper Bismuth Iodide for Photovoltaics Hu, Zhaosheng; Wang, Zhen; Kapil, Gaurav ChemSusChem, Vol. 11, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201800815	journal	July 2018
Interfaces in Perovskite Solar Cells Shi, Jiangjian; Xu, Xin; Li, Dongmei Small, Vol. 11, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201403534	journal	February 2015
Solvothermale Synthese und Bestimmung der Kristallstrukturen von AgBiI4 und Ag3BiI6 Oldag, Thorsten; Aussieker, Thomas; Keller, Hans-Lothar Zeitschrift f�r anorganische und allgemeine Chemie, Vol. 631, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/zaac.200400508	journal	March 2005
An in-situ room temperature route to CuBiI4 based bulk-heterojunction perovskite-like solar cells Zhang, Busheng; Lei, Yan; Qi, Ruijuan Science China Materials, Vol. 62, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-018-9355-0	journal	October 2018
Experimental investigation of the Ag–Bi–I ternary system and thermodynamic properties of the ternary phases Mashadieva, Leyla F.; Aliev, Ziya S.; Shevelkov, Andrei V. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Vol. 551 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2012.11.033	journal	February 2013
Exploring AgBixI3x+1 semiconductor thin films for lead-free perovskite solar cells Shao, Z.; Le Mercier, T.; Madec, M. B. Materials & Design, Vol. 141 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2017.12.036	journal	March 2018
Role of a hydrophobic scaffold in controlling the crystallization of methylammonium antimony iodide for efficient lead-free perovskite solar cells Karuppuswamy, Priyadharsini; Boopathi, Karunakara Moorthy; Mohapatra, Anisha Nano Energy, Vol. 45 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.12.051	journal	March 2018
An effective approach of vapour assisted morphological tailoring for reducing metal defect sites in lead-free, (CH3NH3)3Bi2I9 bismuth-based perovskite solar cells for improved performance and long-term stability Jain, Sagar M.; Phuyal, Dibya; Davies, Matthew L. Nano Energy, Vol. 49 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.05.003	journal	July 2018
Thin-Film Preparation and Characterization of Cs ₃ Sb ₂ I ₉ : A Lead-Free Layered Perovskite Semiconductor Saparov, Bayrammurad; Hong, Feng; Sun, Jon-Paul Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 27, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b01989	journal	August 2015
Crystal and Electronic Structures of Complex Bismuth Iodides A ₃ Bi ₂ I ₉ ( A = K, Rb, Cs) Related to Perovskite: Aiding the Rational Design of Photovoltaics Lehner, Anna J.; Fabini, Douglas H.; Evans, Hayden A. Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 27, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b03147	journal	October 2015
Stabilizing Perovskite Structures by Tuning Tolerance Factor: Formation of Formamidinium and Cesium Lead Iodide Solid-State Alloys Li, Zhen; Yang, Mengjin; Park, Ji-Sang Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b04107	journal	December 2015
Cs ₂ AgBiX ₆ (X = Br, Cl): New Visible Light Absorbing, Lead-Free Halide Perovskite Semiconductors McClure, Eric T.; Ball, Molly R.; Windl, Wolfgang Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b04231	journal	February 2016
Thin-Film Deposition and Characterization of a Sn-Deficient Perovskite Derivative Cs ₂ SnI ₆ Saparov, Bayrammurad; Sun, Jon-Paul; Meng, Weiwei Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b00433	journal	March 2016
Rb as an Alternative Cation for Templating Inorganic Lead-Free Perovskites for Solution Processed Photovoltaics Harikesh, P. C.; Mulmudi, Hemant Kumar; Ghosh, Biplab Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b03310	journal	October 2016
AgBiI ₄ as a Lead-Free Solar Absorber with Potential Application in Photovoltaics Sansom, Harry C.; Whitehead, George F. S.; Dyer, Matthew S. Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 29, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b04135	journal	February 2017
Strong Electron–Phonon Coupling and Self-Trapped Excitons in the Defect Halide Perovskites A ₃ M ₂ I ₉ (A = Cs, Rb; M = Bi, Sb) McCall, Kyle M.; Stoumpos, Constantinos C.; Kostina, Svetlana S. Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 29, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b01184	journal	April 2017
A -Site Cation in Inorganic A ₃ Sb ₂ I ₉ Perovskite Influences Structural Dimensionality, Exciton Binding Energy, and Solar Cell Performance Correa-Baena, Juan-Pablo; Nienhaus, Lea; Kurchin, Rachel C. Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b00676	journal	May 2018
A Versatile Thin-Film Deposition Method for Multidimensional Semiconducting Bismuth Halides Khazaee, Maryam; Sardashti, Kasra; Sun, Jon-Paul Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b01341	journal	April 2018
Bismuth Iodide Perovskite Materials for Solar Cell Applications: Electronic Structure, Optical Transitions, and Directional Charge Transport Pazoki, Meysam; Johansson, Malin B.; Zhu, Huimin The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 120, Issue 51 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b11745	journal	December 2016
Lead-Free Perovskite Semiconductors Based on Germanium–Tin Solid Solutions: Structural and Optoelectronic Properties Nagane, Satyawan; Ghosh, Dibyajyoti; Hoye, Robert L. Z. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 122, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b00480	journal	February 2018
Crystal Structure of AgBi ₂ I ₇ Thin Films Xiao, Zewen; Meng, Weiwei; Mitzi, David B. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 7, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b01834	journal	September 2016
Construction of Compact Methylammonium Bismuth Iodide Film Promoting Lead-Free Inverted Planar Heterojunction Organohalide Solar Cells with Open-Circuit Voltage over 0.8 V Ran, Chenxin; Wu, Zhaoxin; Xi, Jun The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b02578	journal	January 2017
Mixed Sn–Ge Perovskite for Enhanced Perovskite Solar Cell Performance in Air Ito, Nozomi; Kamarudin, Muhammad Akmal; Hirotani, Daisuke The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b00275	journal	March 2018
Inorganic and Lead-Free AgBiI ₄ Rudorffite for Stable Solar Cell Applications Lu, Chaojie; Zhang, Jing; Sun, Hongrui ACS Applied Energy Materials, Vol. 1, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.8b01202	journal	August 2018
Effect of Electron Transporting Layer on Bismuth-Based Lead-Free Perovskite (CH ₃ NH ₃ ) ₃ Bi ₂ I ₉ for Photovoltaic Applications Singh, Trilok; Kulkarni, Ashish; Ikegami, Masashi ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b02843	journal	June 2016
Semiconducting Tin and Lead Iodide Perovskites with Organic Cations: Phase Transitions, High Mobilities, and Near-Infrared Photoluminescent Properties Stoumpos, Constantinos C.; Malliakas, Christos D.; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G. Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 52, Issue 15, p. 9019-9038 https://doi.org/10.1021/ic401215x	journal	July 2013
Organometal Halide Perovskite Solar Cell Materials Rationalized: Ultrafast Charge Generation, High and Microsecond-Long Balanced Mobilities, and Slow Recombination Ponseca, Carlito S.; Savenije, Tom J.; Abdellah, Mohamed Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 136, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja412583t	journal	February 2014
Hybrid Germanium Iodide Perovskite Semiconductors: Active Lone Pairs, Structural Distortions, Direct and Indirect Energy Gaps, and Strong Nonlinear Optical Properties Stoumpos, Constantinos C.; Frazer, Laszlo; Clark, Daniel J. Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b01025	journal	May 2015
Kinetics of Ion Transport in Perovskite Active Layers and Its Implications for Active Layer Stability Bag, Monojit; Renna, Lawrence A.; Adhikari, Ramesh Y. Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 40 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b08535	journal	September 2015
Chlorine-Incorporation-Induced Formation of the Layered Phase for Antimony-Based Lead-Free Perovskite Solar Cells Jiang, Fangyuan; Yang, Dongwen; Jiang, Youyu Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 140, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b10739	journal	January 2018
Anomalous Hysteresis in Perovskite Solar Cells Snaith, Henry J.; Abate, Antonio; Ball, James M. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 5, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/jz500113x	journal	April 2014
Organometallic Halide Perovskites: Sharp Optical Absorption Edge and Its Relation to Photovoltaic Performance De Wolf, Stefaan; Holovsky, Jakub; Moon, Soo-Jin The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 5, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1021/jz500279b	journal	March 2014
Ultra-Low Thermal Conductivity in Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite CH ₃ NH ₃ PbI ₃ Pisoni, Andrea; Jaćimović, Jaćim; Barišić, Osor S. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 5, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1021/jz5012109	journal	July 2014
Carbon Nanotube/Polymer Composites as a Highly Stable Hole Collection Layer in Perovskite Solar Cells Habisreutinger, Severin N.; Leijtens, Tomas; Eperon, Giles E. Nano Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 10, p. 5561-5568 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl501982b	journal	September 2014
Compositional engineering of perovskite materials for high-performance solar cells Jeon, Nam Joong; Noh, Jun Hong; Yang, Woon Seok Nature, Vol. 517, Issue 7535 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14133	journal	January 2015
Toxicity of organometal halide perovskite solar cells Babayigit, Aslihan; Ethirajan, Anitha; Muller, Marc Nature Materials, Vol. 15, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4572	journal	February 2016
The emergence of perovskite solar cells Green, Martin A.; Ho-Baillie, Anita; Snaith, Henry J. Nature Photonics, Vol. 8, Issue 7, p. 506-514 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2014.134	journal	July 2014
Lead-free organic–inorganic tin halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications Noel, Nakita K.; Stranks, Samuel D.; Abate, Antonio Energy Environ. Sci., Vol. 7, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1039/C4EE01076K	journal	January 2014
Silver bismuth iodides in various compositions as potential Pb-free light absorbers for hybrid solar cells Jung, Ki Woo; Sohn, Mi Rae; Lee, Hye Min Sustainable Energy & Fuels, Vol. 2, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/C7SE00477J	journal	January 2018
How the formation of interfacial charge causes hysteresis in perovskite solar cells Weber, Stefan A. L.; Hermes, Ilka M.; Turren-Cruz, Silver-Hamill Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 11, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1039/C8EE01447G	journal	January 2018
Evidence for the direct population of solid-state bands by non-bonding electron pairs in compounds of the type CsM II X3(M II = Ge, Sn, Pb; X = Cl, Br, I) Clark, Stephen J.; Donaldson, John D.; Harvey, Josephine A. Journal of Materials Chemistry, Vol. 5, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1039/jm9950501813	journal	January 1995
Synthesis, crystal structure, and properties of a perovskite-related bismuth phase, (NH ₄ ) ₃ Bi ₂ I ₉ Sun, Shijing; Tominaka, Satoshi; Lee, Jung-Hoon APL Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4943680	journal	March 2016
Long-Range Balanced Electron- and Hole-Transport Lengths in Organic-Inorganic CH₃NH₃PbI₃ Xing, G.; Mathews, N.; Sun, S. Science, Vol. 342, Issue 6156, p. 344-347 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1243167	journal	October 2013
Electron-Hole Diffusion Lengths Exceeding 1 Micrometer in an Organometal Trihalide Perovskite Absorber Stranks, S. D.; Eperon, G. E.; Grancini, G. Science, Vol. 342, Issue 6156, p. 341-344 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1243982	journal	October 2013
A mixed-cation lead mixed-halide perovskite absorber for tandem solar cells McMeekin, D. P.; Sadoughi, G.; Rehman, W. Science, Vol. 351, Issue 6269 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad5845	journal	January 2016
Incorporation of rubidium cations into perovskite solar cells improves photovoltaic performance Saliba, M.; Matsui, T.; Domanski, K. Science, Vol. 354, Issue 6309 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5557	journal	September 2016
Lead-free perovskite solar cells using Sb and Bi-based A3B2X9 and A3BX6 crystals with normal and inverse cell structures Baranwal, Ajay Kumar; Masutani, Hideaki; Sugita, Hidetaka Nano Convergence, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40580-017-0120-3	journal	September 2017
Rb as an Alternative Cation for Templating Inorganic Lead-Free Perovskites for Solution Processed Photovoltaics Harikesh, P. C.; Mulmudi, Hemant; Ghosh, Biplab Open Science Framework https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/894g2	text	January 2019

Cited By (1)

From Pb to Bi: A Promising Family of Pb‐Free Optoelectronic Materials and Devices Wu, Cuncun; Zhang, Qiaohui; Liu, Ganghong Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 10, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201902496	journal	April 2020

Similar Records

Crystal Structure of AgBi₂I₇ Thin Films

Journal Article · Mon Sep 12 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · OSTI ID:1559760

A Versatile Thin-Film Deposition Method for Multidimensional Semiconducting Bismuth Halides

Journal Article · Mon Apr 30 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Chemistry of Materials · OSTI ID:1593836

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Chemistry
Energy & Fuels
Materials Science

Dual-source evaporation of silver bismuth iodide films for planar junction solar cells

Citation Formats

References (59)

Cited By (1)

Similar Records

Related Subjects