skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: First-Principles Calculation of the Bulk Photovoltaic Effect in CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbI3–xClx

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jz502109e· OSTI ID:1867828

Hybrid halide perovskites exhibit nearly 20% power conversion efficiency, but the origin of their high efficiency is still unknown. Here, we compute the shift current, a dominant mechanism of the bulk photovoltaic (PV) effect for ferroelectric photovoltaics, in CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbI3–xClx from first-principles. We find that these materials give approximately three times larger shift current PV response to near-IR and visible light than the prototypical ferroelectric photovoltaic BiFeO3. Here, the molecular orientations of CH3NH3+ can strongly affect the corresponding PbI3 inorganic frame so as to alter the magnitude of the shift current response. Specifically, configurations with dipole moments aligned in parallel distort the inorganic PbI3 frame more significantly than configurations with near-net-zero dipole, yielding a larger shift current response. Furthermore, we explore the effect of Cl substitution on shift current and find that Cl substitution at the equatorial site induces a larger response than does substitution at the apical site.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); National Science Foundation (NSF); High-Performance Computing Modernization Office of the Department of Defense and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-07ER46431
OSTI ID:
1867828
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 6, Issue 1; ISSN 1948-7185
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (41)

Lead Iodide Perovskite Sensitized All-Solid-State Submicron Thin Film Mesoscopic Solar Cell with Efficiency Exceeding 9% journal August 2012
Interface engineering of highly efficient perovskite solar cells journal July 2014
Organohalide lead perovskites for photovoltaic applications journal January 2014
Electron-Hole Diffusion Lengths Exceeding 1 Micrometer in an Organometal Trihalide Perovskite Absorber journal October 2013
Relativistic GW calculations on CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3SnI3 Perovskites for Solar Cell Applications journal March 2014
CH 3 NH 3 Sn x Pb (1– x ) I 3 Perovskite Solar Cells Covering up to 1060 nm journal March 2014
Formamidinium lead trihalide: a broadly tunable perovskite for efficient planar heterojunction solar cells journal January 2014
Semiconducting Tin and Lead Iodide Perovskites with Organic Cations: Phase Transitions, High Mobilities, and Near-Infrared Photoluminescent Properties journal July 2013
Structural and electronic properties of organo-halide lead perovskites: a combined IR-spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics investigation journal January 2014
The emergence of perovskite solar cells journal July 2014
Crystal Structures, Optical Properties, and Effective Mass Tensors of CH 3 NH 3 PbX 3 (X = I and Br) Phases Predicted from HSE06 journal March 2014
Hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics: Insights from first principles journal March 2014
Organometal Halide Perovskite Solar Cell Materials Rationalized: Ultrafast Charge Generation, High and Microsecond-Long Balanced Mobilities, and Slow Recombination journal February 2014
Long-Range Balanced Electron- and Hole-Transport Lengths in Organic-Inorganic CH3NH3PbI3 journal October 2013
Elucidating the charge carrier separation and working mechanism of CH3NH3PbI3−xClx perovskite solar cells journal March 2014
The Role of Intrinsic Defects in Methylammonium Lead Iodide Perovskite journal March 2014
Unusual defect physics in CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 perovskite solar cell absorber journal February 2014
First-Principles Calculation of the Bulk Photovoltaic Effect in Bismuth Ferrite journal December 2012
Theory of the bulk photovoltaic effect in pure crystals journal May 1981
Anomalous Hysteresis in Perovskite Solar Cells journal April 2014
Slow Dynamic Processes in Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cells. Characteristic Times and Hysteresis journal June 2014
Impedance Spectroscopic Analysis of Lead Iodide Perovskite-Sensitized Solid-State Solar Cells journal December 2013
Influence of the orientation of methylammonium lead iodide perovskite crystals on solar cell performance journal August 2014
Solvent engineering for high-performance inorganic–organic hybrid perovskite solar cells journal July 2014
High‐voltage bulk photovoltaic effect and the photorefractive process in LiNbO 3 journal August 1974
Optimized pseudopotentials journal January 1990
Designed nonlocal pseudopotentials for enhanced transferability journal May 1999
Cation-Induced Band-Gap Tuning in Organohalide Perovskites: Interplay of Spin–Orbit Coupling and Octahedra Tilting journal May 2014
Importance of Spin–Orbit Coupling in Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Perovskites for Photovoltaic Applications journal August 2013
Dynamic disorder in methylammoniumtrihalogenoplumbates (II) observed by millimeter‐wave spectroscopy journal December 1987
The Raman Spectrum of the CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 Hybrid Perovskite: Interplay of Theory and Experiment journal December 2013
Atomistic Origins of High-Performance in Hybrid Halide Perovskite Solar Cells journal April 2014
Structural and electronic properties of hybrid perovskites for high-efficiency thin-film photovoltaics from first-principles journal October 2013
Density functional theory analysis of structural and electronic properties of orthorhombic perovskite CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 journal January 2014
Synthesis and crystal chemistry of the hybrid perovskite (CH3NH3)PbI3 for solid-state sensitised solar cell applications journal January 2013
First-Principles Modeling of Mixed Halide Organometal Perovskites for Photovoltaic Applications journal July 2013
Role of Dispersive Interactions in Determining Structural Properties of Organic–Inorganic Halide Perovskites: Insights from First-Principles Calculations journal July 2014
General atomic and molecular electronic structure system journal November 1993
Efficient Hybrid Solar Cells Based on Meso-Superstructured Organometal Halide Perovskites journal October 2012
Elusive Presence of Chloride in Mixed Halide Perovskite Solar Cells journal September 2014
Hybrid Improper Ferroelectricity in a Multiferroic and Magnetoelectric Metal-Organic Framework journal February 2013

Cited By (39)

The Effects of Electronic Impurities and Electron-Hole Recombination Dynamics on Large-Grain Organic-Inorganic Perovskite Photovoltaic Efficiencies journal April 2016
PbTiO 3 as Electron-Selective Layer for High-Efficiency Perovskite Solar Cells: Enhanced Electron Extraction via Tunable Ferroelectric Polarization journal November 2018
Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Perovskites (HOIPs): Opportunities and Challenges journal July 2015
In-Plane Ferroelectricity in Thin Flakes of Van der Waals Hybrid Perovskite journal October 2018
Mutual Insight on Ferroelectrics and Hybrid Halide Perovskites: A Platform for Future Multifunctional Energy Conversion journal August 2019
Progress in Theoretical Study of Metal Halide Perovskite Solar Cell Materials journal August 2017
Tetrathienoanthracene and Tetrathienylbenzene Derivatives as Hole-Transporting Materials for Perovskite Solar Cell journal July 2018
Research Direction toward Scalable, Stable, and High Efficiency Perovskite Solar Cells journal April 2020
Influence of Orientational Disorder on the Optical Absorption Properties of the Hybrid Metal‐Halide Perovskite CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 journal October 2019
Hybrid organic—inorganic perovskites: low-cost semiconductors with intriguing charge-transport properties journal January 2016
Design principles for shift current photovoltaics journal January 2017
Shift current bulk photovoltaic effect in polar materials—hybrid and oxide perovskites and beyond journal August 2016
Switchable magnetic bulk photovoltaic effect in the two-dimensional magnet CrI3 journal August 2019
Colossal mid-infrared bulk photovoltaic effect in a type-I Weyl semimetal journal March 2019
Giant photovoltaic response in band engineered ferroelectric perovskite journal May 2018
Photovoltaic performance and the energy landscape of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 journal January 2015
Enhancing the carrier thermalization time in organometallic perovskites by halide mixing journal January 2016
Perovskites for photovoltaics: a combined review of organic–inorganic halide perovskites and ferroelectric oxide perovskites journal January 2015
Room temperature ferroelectricity of hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites with mixed iodine and bromine journal January 2018
Large polaron formation and its effect on electron transport in hybrid perovskites journal January 2019
Tuning spontaneous polarization and optical absorption by intercalating Sr–Cl-layers in organic–inorganic halide perovskite CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 thin films journal January 2018
Structural fluctuations cause spin-split states in tetragonal (CH 3 NH 3 )PbI 3 as evidenced by the circular photogalvanic effect journal September 2018
Oriented tuning the photovoltaic properties of γ -RbGeX 3 by strain-induced electron effective mass mutation journal October 2017
Advances in modelling and simulation of halide perovskites for solar cell applications journal January 2019
First-principles Studies of Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Properties of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Halide Perovskites journal January 2020
Shift-current bulk photovoltaic effect influenced by quasiparticle and exciton journal January 2020
From soft harmonic phonons to fast relaxational dynamics in CH 3 NH 3 PbBr 3 journal September 2015
Large Bulk Photovoltaic Effect and Spontaneous Polarization of Single-Layer Monochalcogenides journal August 2017
The existence and impact of persistent ferroelectric domains in MAPbI 3 journal January 2019
Understanding the physical properties of hybrid perovskites for photovoltaic applications text January 2017
Crystal Structure Formation of CH3NH3PbI3-xClx Perovskite journal February 2016
Ferroelectric Materials for Solar Energy Conversion: Photoferroics Revisited text January 2014
Enhancement of bulk photovoltaic effect in topological insulators text January 2015
Predicted bulk photovoltaic effect in hydrogenated Zintl compounds text January 2017
Strong bulk photovoltaic effect in chiral crystal in the visible spectrum text January 2019
Behavior of Methylammonium Dipoles in MAPbX 3 (X = Br and I) journal August 2017
Spontaneous bidirectional ordering of CH3NH3+ in lead iodide perovskites at room temperature: The origins of the tetragonal phase journal April 2016
Antiferroelectric Nature of CH3NH3PbI3−xClx Perovskite and Its Implication for Charge Separation in Perovskite Solar Cells journal July 2016
Anomalous photovoltaic effect in organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells journal March 2017