Synthesis of lead free hybrid copper halide perovskite nanosheets: Structural and optical properties

Abstract

The most significant disadvantage of using lead halide perovskite materials in optoelectronic applications is that these materials are toxic. In this work, we report the successful synthesis of copper halide-based hybrid perovskites by exchanging the toxic lead for non-toxic copper metal and investigating the structural and optical properties of the resulting perovskites. At room temperature, using a wet chemical method, the lead-free MACuCl3, MACuCl1.5Br1.5, and MACuBr3 nanosheets were synthesized. It was discovered that a higher concentration of chloride in the copper-based perovskite resulted in a decrease in both the amount of crystal distortion and the volume of the unit cell. The as-synthesized materials have shown attractive absorption features that have been extended to the range of 2 eV. Calculations showed that an increase in the concentration of chloride ions led to a widening of both the direct and indirect optical band gaps. In general, the nanosheets morphology was observed, but when the concentration of bromide ion was raised, rectangular shape was predominant. This work explores the possibilities of using hybrid copper halide perovskite in optoelectronic applications and offers a solution for synthesising the material via simple one-step method.