Exploring the Photovoltaic Performance of All-Inorganic Ag₂PbI₄/PbI₂ Blends

We present an all-inorganic photoactive material composed of Ag₂PbI₄ and PbI₂, which shows unexpectedly good photovoltaic performance in planar junction solar cells delivering external quantum efficiencies of ∼60% and light power conversion efficiencies of ∼3.9%. The revealed characteristics are among the best reported to date for metal halides with nonperovskite crystal structure. Most importantly, the obtained results suggest a possibility of reaching high photovoltaic efficiencies for binary and, probably, also ternary blends of different inorganic semiconductor materials. This approach, resembling the bulk heterojunction concept guiding the development of organic photovoltaics for two decades, opens wide opportunities for rational design of novel inorganic and hybrid materials for efficient and sustainable photovoltaic technologies.