Organic-inorganic Copper(II)-based Material: a Low-Toxic, Highly Stable Light Absorber beyond Organolead Perovskites

TL;DR

This paper introduces a lead-free, highly stable copper-based material for solar cells that overcomes toxicity and stability issues of perovskites, showing promising optical properties and initial efficiency results.

Contribution

It reports the first use of a C6H4NH2CuBr2I compound as a low-toxic, stable light absorber in solar cells, expanding the material options beyond organolead perovskites.

Findings

Exhibits high hydrophobicity with a contact angle of ~90 degrees.

Maintains structural integrity after water immersion for four hours.

Achieves a 0.5% power conversion efficiency in initial solar cell tests.

Abstract

Lead halide perovskite solar cells have recently emerged as a very promising photovoltaic technology due to their excellent power conversion efficiencies; however, the toxicity of lead and the poor stability of perovskite materials remain two main challenges that need to be addressed. Here, for the first time, we report a lead-free, highly stable C6H4NH2CuBr2I compound. The C6H4NH2CuBr2I films exhibit extraordinary hydrophobic behavior with a contact angle of approximately 90 degree, and their X-ray diffraction patterns remain unchanged even after four hours of water immersion. UV-Vis absorption spectrum shows that C6H4NH2CuBr2I compound has an excellent optical absorption over the entire visible spectrum. We applied this copper-based light absorber in printable mesoscopic solar cell for the initial trial and achieved a power conversion efficiency of 0.5%. Our study represents an alternative pathway to develop low-toxic and highly stable organic-inorganic hybrid materials for photovoltaic application.