Lead-Free Halide Double Perovskite Cs2 AgBiBr6 with Decreased Band Gap.

Abstract

Environmentally friendly halide double perovskites with improved stability are regarded as a promising alternative to lead halide perovskites. The benchmark double perovskite, Cs2AgBiBr6, shows attractive optical and electronic features, making it promising for high‐efficiency optoelectronic devices. However, the large band gap limits its further applications, especially for photovoltaics. Herein, we develop a novel crystal‐engineering strategy to significantly decrease the band gap by approximately 0.26 eV, reaching the smallest reported band gap of 1.72 eV for Cs2AgBiBr6 under ambient conditions. The band‐gap narrowing is confirmed by both absorption and photoluminescence measurements. Our first‐principles calculations indicate that enhanced Ag–Bi disorder has a large impact on the band structure and decreases the band gap, providing a possible explanation of the observed band‐gap narrowing effect. This work provides new insights for achieving lead‐free double perovskites with suitable band gaps for optoelectronic applications.