Defect tolerance in chalcogenide perovskite photovoltaic material BaZrS_(3)

Chalcogenide perovskites(CPs) exhibiting lower band gaps than oxide perovskites and higher stability than halide perovskites are promising materials for photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications. For such applications, the absence of deep defect levels serving as recombination centers(dubbed defect tolerance) is a highly desirable property. Here,using density functional theory(DFT) calculations, we study the intrinsic defects in BaZrS_(3), a representative CP material.We compare Hubbard-U and hybrid functional methods, both of which have been widely used in addressing the band gap problem of semi-local functionals in DFT. We find that tuning the U value to obtain experimental bulk band gap and then using the obtained U value for defect calculations may result in over-localization of defect states. In the hybrid functional calculation, the band gap of BaZrS_(3)can be accurately obtained. We observe the formation of small S-atom clusters in both methods, which tend to self-passivate the defects from forming mid-gap levels. Even though in the hybrid functional calculations several relatively deep defects are observed, all of them exhibit too high formation energy to play a significant role if the materials are prepared under thermal equilibrium.BaZrS_(3)is thus expected to exhibit sufficient defect tolerance promising for photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications.

Ferroelectric control of single-molecule magnetism in 2D limit

The electric control of magnetic properties based on magnetoelectric effect is crucial for the development of future data storage devices.Here,based on first-principles calculations,a strong magnetoelectric effect is proposed to effectively switch on/off the magnetic states as well as alter the in-plane/perpendicular easy axes of metal-phthalocyanine molecules(MPc)by reversing the electric polarization of the underlying two-dimensional(2D)ferroelectric a-In2Se3 substrate with the application of an external electric field.The mechanism originates from the different hybridization between the molecule and the ferroelectric substrate in which the different electronic states of surface Se layer play a dominant role.Moreover,the magnetic moments and magnetic anisotropy energies(MAE)of OsPc/In2Se3 can be further largely enhanced by a functionalized atom atop the OsPc molecule.The I-OsPc/In2Se3 system possesses large MAE up to 30 meV at both polarization directions,which is sufficient for room-temperature applications.These findings provide a feasible scheme to realize ferroelectric control of magnetic states in 2D limit,which have great potential for applications in nanoscale electronics and spintronics.