Organic–inorganic bismuth (III)-based material: A lead-free, air-stable and solution-processable light-absorber beyond organolead perovskites

• Published in: Nano research Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 692 - 702
• Main Authors: Lyu, Miaoqiang, Yun, Jung-Ho, Cai, Molang, Jiao, Yalong, Bernhardt, Paul V., Zhang, Meng, Wang, Qiong, Du, Aijun, Wang, Hongxia, Liu, Gang, Wang, Lianzhou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Tsinghua University Press 01.03.2016
• Subjects: Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Bismuth; Cations; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter Physics; Crystals; Iodides; Lead; Lead (metal); Lead free; Low temperature; Materials Science; Metal ions; Nanotechnology; Organolead compounds; Organotin compounds; Perovskites; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic effect; Photovoltaics; Research Article; Single crystals; Solar cells; Solar energy; Stability; Tin; Toxicity; methylammonium bismuth (III) iodide; organic–inorganic hybrid material; lead-free; perovskite solar cells; single crystal
• ISSN: 1998-0124; 1998-0000
• DOI: 10.1007/s12274-015-0948-y

Methylammonium bismuth (III) iodide single crystals and films have been developed and investigated. We have further presented the first demonstration of using this organic–inorganic bismuth-based material to replace lead/tin-based perovskite materials in solution-processable solar cells. The organic–inorganic bismuth-based material has advantages of non-toxicity, ambient stability, and low-temperature solution-processability, which provides a promising solution to address the toxicity and stability challenges in organolead- and organotin-based perovskite solar cells. We also demonstrated that trivalent metal cation-based organic–inorganic hybrid materials can exhibit photovoltaic effect, which may inspire more research work on developing and applying organic-inorganic hybrid materials beyond divalent metal cations (Pb (II) and Sn (II)) for solar energy applications.