Hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics: Insights from first principles

The methylammonium lead iodide perovskites at the core of recently proposed solar cells with exceptionally large quantum conversion efficiency are studied by first-principles methods. Large absorption coefficients (0.03-0.04 nm-1 for wavelength ∼500 nm) and small effective masses suited for both n-type and p-type transport are obtained as a consequence of their peculiar structural and electronic characteristics. In particular, the presence of a direct gap between highly dispersed Pb(6s)-I(5p) valence bands and Pb(6p) conduction bands is the key ingredient at the basis of their excellent performance in photovoltaic applications. © 2014 American Physical Society.