Stable Bandgap-Tunable Hybrid Perovskites with Alloyed Pb–Ba Cations for High-Performance Photovoltaic Applications

The intrinsic poor stability of MAPbI3 hybrid perovskites in the ambient environment remains as the major challenge for photovoltaic applications. In this work, complementary first-principles calculations and experimental characterizations reveal that metal cation alloyed perovskite (MABaxPb1–xI3) can be synthesized and exhibit substantially enhanced stability via forming stronger Ba–I bonds. The Ba–Pb alloyed perovskites remain phase-pure in ambient air for more than 15 days. Furthermore, the bandgap of MABaxPb1–xI3 is tailored in a wide window of 1.56–4.08 eV. Finally, MABaxPb1–xI3 is used as a capping layer on MAPbI3 in solar cells, resulting in significantly improved power conversion efficiency (18.9%) and long-term stability (>30 days). Overall, our results provide a simple but reliable strategy toward stable less-Pb perovskites with tailored physical properties.