Cu-In Halide Perovskite solar absorbers

The long-term chemical instability and the presence of toxic Pb in otherwise stellar solar absorber APbX$_{3}$ have hindered their large-scale commercialization. Previously explored ways to achieve Pb-free halide perovskites involved replacing Pb$^{2+}$ with other similar M$^{2+}$ cations in ns$^2$ electron configuration, e.g., Sn$^{2+}$ or by Bi$^{3+}$ (plus Ag$^+$), but unfortunately this showed either poor stability (M = Sn) or weakly absorbing oversized indirect gaps (M = Bi), prompting concerns that perhaps stability and good optoelectronic properties might be contraindicated. Herein, we exploit the electronic structure underpinning of classic Cu[In,Ga]Se$_{2}$ (CIGS) chalcopyrite solar absorbers to design Pb-free halide perovskites by transmuting 2Pb to the pair [B$^{IB}$ + C$^{III}$]. The resulting group of double perovskites with formula A$_2$BCX$_6$ (A = K, Rb, Cs; B = Cu, Ag; C = Ga, In; X = Cl, Br, I) benefits from the ionic, yet narrow-gap character of halide perovskites, and at the same time borrows the advantage of the strong and rapidly rising Cu(d)/Se(p) $\rightarrow$ Ga/In(s/p) valence-to-conduction-band absorption spectra known from CIGS. This constitutes a new group of CuIn-based Halide Perovskite (CIHP). Our first-principles calculations guided by such design principles indicate that the CIHPs class has members with clear thermodynamic stability, showing rather strong direct-gap optical transitions, and manifesting a wide-range of tunable gap values (from zero to about 2.5 eV) and combination of light electron and heavy-light hole effective masses. Materials screening of candidate CHIPs then identifies the best-of-class Rb$_2$[CuIn]Cl$_6$, Rb$_2$[AgIn]Br$_6$ and Cs$_2$[AgIn]Br$_6$, having direct band gaps of 1.36, 1.46 and 1.50 eV, and a theoretical spectroscopic limited maximal efficiency comparable to chalcopyrites and CH$_3$NH$_3$PbI$_3$.