A review on Cs-based Pb-free double halide perovskites: From theoretical and experimental studies to doping and applications

Abstract

Despite the progressive enhancement in the flexibility of Pb-based perovskites for optoelectronic applications, regrettably, they are facing two main challenges; (1) instability, which originates from using organic components in the perovskite structure, and (2) toxicity due to Pb. Therefore, new, stable non-toxic perovskite materials are demanded to overcome these drawbacks. The research community has been working on a wide variety of Pb-free perovskites with different molecular formulas and dimensionality. A variety of Pb-free halide double perovskites have been widely explored by different research groups in search for stable, non-toxic double perovskite material. Especially, Cs-based Pb-free halide double perovskite has been in focus recently. Herein, we present a review of theoretical and experimental research on Cs-based Pb-free double halide perovskites of structural formulas Cs2M+M3+X6 (M+ = Ag+, Na+, In+ etc.; M3+= Bi3+, In3+, Sb3+; X = Cl−, Br−, I¯) and Cs2M4+X6 (M4+ = Ti4+, Sn4+, Au4+ etc.). We also present the challenges faced by these perovskite compounds and their current applications especially in photovoltaics alongside the effect of metal dopants on their performance.