Lead free double perovskite oxides Ln 2 NiMnO 6 (Ln = La, Eu, Dy, Lu), a new promising material for photovoltaic application

Abstract Inorganic lead free double perovskite oxides Ln 2 NiMnO 6 (Ln = La, Eu, Dy and Lu) with a variation of band gap from 1.08 to 1.19 eV have been synthesized for the photovoltaic application. These materials show very long carrier life-time (∼0.1 ms), much higher than that of halide perovskites which have carrier life-time in the low μs range. The obtained carrier life-time is also very close to that of the silicon solar cell. In spite of being room temperature ferroic, these materials show robust photovoltaic performance, higher than the ferroic Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 , BiFeO 3 and KBiFe 2 O 5 solar cells. The obtained photovoltaic performance and the simplicity of large scale fabrication of Ln 2 NiMnO 6 solar cells may open a new avenue to develop cheap and eco-friendly solar cells for mass production.