TY - JOUR
T1 - Searching for 'Defect-Tolerant' Photovoltaic Materials: Combined Theoretical and Experimental Screening
AU - Gorai, Prashun
AU - Stevanovic, Vladan
AU - Brandt, Riley
AU - Poindexter, Jeremy
AU - Kurchin, Rachel
AU - Hoye, Robert
AU - Nienhaus, Lea
AU - Wilson, Mark
AU - Polizzotti, J.
AU - Sereika, Raimundas
AU - Zaltauskas, Raimundas
AU - Lee, Lana
AU - MacManus-Driscoll, Judith
AU - Bawendi, Moungi
AU - Buonassisi, Tonio
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Recently, we and others have proposed screening criteria for 'defect-tolerant' photovoltaic (PV) absorbers, identifying several classes of semiconducting compounds with electronic structures similar to those of hybrid lead-halide perovskites. In this work, we reflect on the accuracy and prospects of these new design criteria through a combined experimental and theoretical approach. We construct a model to extract photoluminescence lifetimes of six of these candidate PV absorbers, including four (InI, SbSI, SbSeI, and BiOI) for which time-resolved photoluminescence has not been previously reported. The lifetimes of all six candidate materials exceed 1 ns, a threshold for promising early stage PV device performance. However, there are variations between these materials, and none achieve lifetimes as high as those of the hybrid lead-halide perovskites, suggesting that the heuristics for defect-tolerant semiconductors are incomplete. We explore this through first-principles point defect calculations and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination models to describe the variation between the measured materials. In light of these insights, we discuss the evolution of screening criteria for defect tolerance and high-performance PV materials.
AB - Recently, we and others have proposed screening criteria for 'defect-tolerant' photovoltaic (PV) absorbers, identifying several classes of semiconducting compounds with electronic structures similar to those of hybrid lead-halide perovskites. In this work, we reflect on the accuracy and prospects of these new design criteria through a combined experimental and theoretical approach. We construct a model to extract photoluminescence lifetimes of six of these candidate PV absorbers, including four (InI, SbSI, SbSeI, and BiOI) for which time-resolved photoluminescence has not been previously reported. The lifetimes of all six candidate materials exceed 1 ns, a threshold for promising early stage PV device performance. However, there are variations between these materials, and none achieve lifetimes as high as those of the hybrid lead-halide perovskites, suggesting that the heuristics for defect-tolerant semiconductors are incomplete. We explore this through first-principles point defect calculations and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination models to describe the variation between the measured materials. In light of these insights, we discuss the evolution of screening criteria for defect tolerance and high-performance PV materials.
KW - electronic structures
KW - photovoltaic absorbers
KW - semiconducting compounds
U2 - 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b05496
DO - 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b05496
M3 - Article
SN - 0897-4756
VL - 29
SP - 4667
EP - 4674
JO - Chemistry of Materials
JF - Chemistry of Materials
IS - 11
ER -