Organic–Inorganic Copper(II)-Based Material: A Low-Toxic, Highly Stable Light Absorber for Photovoltaic Application

Lead halide perovskite solar cells have recently emerged as a very promising photovoltaic technology due to their excellent power conversion efficiencies; however, the toxicity of lead and the poor stability of perovskite materials remain two main challenges that need to be addressed. Here, for the first time, we report a lead-free, highly stable C₆H₄NH₂CuBr₂I compound. The C₆H₄NH₂CuBr₂I films exhibit extraordinary hydrophobic behavior with a contact angle of ∼90°, and their X-ray diffraction patterns remain unchanged even after 4 h of water immersion. UV/vis absorption spectrum shows that C₆H₄NH₂CuBr₂I compound has an excellent optical absorption over the entire visible spectrum. We applied this copper-based light absorber in printable mesoscopic solar cell for the initial trial and achieved a power conversion efficiency of ∼0.5%. Our study represents an alternative pathway to develop low-toxic and highly stable organic–inorganic hybrid materials for photovoltaic application