Lead-free hybrid perovskite N(CH3)4SnI3 with robust ferroelectricity induced by large and non-polar N(CH3)4+ molecular cation

Hai Wei, Yali Yang, Shiyou Chen () and H. J. Xiang ()
Additional contact information
Hai Wei: Fudan University
Yali Yang: Fudan University
Shiyou Chen: East China Normal University
H. J. Xiang: Fudan University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The ferroelectricity in the hybrid perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 is under debate because it results from the polar molecular cation CH3NH3+ while the molecular orientation was reported to be random. Here we predict that a Pb-free hybrid perovskite N(CH3)4SnI3 with non-polar molecular cation N(CH3)4+ has strong ferroelectricity with a spontaneous polarization of 16.13 μC cm−2. The large polarization results from the distortion of SnI6 octahedron induced by the large N(CH3)4+ and is independent of the molecular orientation, so the ferroelectricity is robust. The ferroelectric R3m perovskite structure of N(CH3)4SnI3 can be synthesized as the ground state under a hydrostatic pressure over 3 GPa and remains stable under ambient pressure. Given the strong ferroelectricity, good stability and high visible-light absorption, N(CH3)4SnI3 may be an ideal light-absorber semiconductor for high-efficiency solar cells because its ferroelectric polarization can facilitate electron-hole separation and produce large bulk photovoltaic effect, making the design of homogeneous bulk photovoltaic devices possible.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-20889-y Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-20889-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-20889-y

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().