DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Is Cs2TiBr6 a promising Pb-free perovskite for solar energy applications?

Journal Article · · Journal of Materials Chemistry. A
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ta13870f · OSTI ID:1799232
 [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [4]
  1. Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science; OSTI
  2. Univ. of Toledo, OH (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy. Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization
  3. Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  4. Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Dept. of Chemistry

In a quest for Pb-free perovskites suitable for solar energy applications, Cs2TiBr6 has recently been reported as a promising compound, with appropriate optical and electrical properties as well as high stability under environmental stresses. In this study, we pursue investigation on this compound, demonstrating phase pure Cs2TiBr6 powder formation using solution synthesis and providing complementary experimental characterization and theoretical calculations. An experimental absorption onset of around 2.0 eV is extracted and a weak broad photoluminescence is measured. Density functional theory calculations predict an indirect bandgap, parity-forbidden for both the direct and indirect transitions, which explains the weak and Stokes shifted luminescence. Additionally, we highlight the strong instability of Cs2TiBr6 powder in ambient atmosphere. Therefore, our experimental results supported by theoretical calculations differ from previous results and raise doubts on the suitability of Cs2TiBr6 in its pristine form for solar energy applications.

Research Organization:
Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; EE0006712
OSTI ID:
1799232
Journal Information:
Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, Journal Name: Journal of Materials Chemistry. A Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 8; ISSN 2050-7488
Publisher:
Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (22)

From Lead Halide Perovskites to Lead‐Free Metal Halide Perovskites and Perovskite Derivatives journal January 2019
Alternative Perovskites for Photovoltaics journal April 2018
Infrared Light Management Using a Nanocrystalline Silicon Oxide Interlayer in Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon Heterojunction Tandem Solar Cells with Efficiency above 25% journal February 2019
Perovskite Solar Cells: Can We Go Organic‐Free, Lead‐Free, and Dopant‐Free? journal October 2019
X-Ray diffraction study of rubidium and cesium bromotitanates journal January 1965
Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set journal July 1996
On the surface morphology of thin alkali halide photocathode films
  • Boutboul, T.; Breskin, A.; Chechik, R.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 438, Issue 2-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(99)00822-0
journal December 1999
Pseudopotentials for high-throughput DFT calculations journal January 2014
Cesium Titanium(IV) Bromide Thin Films Based Stable Lead-free Perovskite Solar Cells journal March 2018
Halide Perovskite Photovoltaics: Background, Status, and Future Prospects journal March 2019
Atomistic Mechanism of Broadband Emission in Metal Halide Perovskites journal January 2019
Earth-Abundant Nontoxic Titanium(IV)-based Vacancy-Ordered Double Perovskite Halides with Tunable 1.0 to 1.8 eV Bandgaps for Photovoltaic Applications journal January 2018
Dynamic Sorption by Hygroscopic Salts. A Comparative Study journal July 1968
An X-Ray Study of Titanium Tetrabromide, Titanium Tetraiodide and Titanium Triiodide journal November 1957
Defect Tolerance to Intolerance in the Vacancy-Ordered Double Perovskite Semiconductors Cs 2 SnI 6 and Cs 2 TeI 6 journal June 2016
Present status and future prospects of perovskite photovoltaics journal April 2018
Solution processed lead-free cesium titanium halide perovskites and their structural, thermal and optical characteristics journal January 2020
A new era for solar energy: hybrid perovskite rocks journal March 2019
Projector augmented-wave method journal December 1994
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set journal October 1996
Restoring the Density-Gradient Expansion for Exchange in Solids and Surfaces journal April 2008
Pseudopotentials for high-throughput DFT calculations text January 2013