Development of organic-inorganic tin halide perovskites: A review

Photovoltaic (PV) technology could be regarded as an efficient way to meet the energy supply-demand gap. In past few years, lead perovskite solar cells have shown remarkable development and proved to be a promising material for photovoltaic applications with some amazing properties like low cost synthesis, high absorption coefficient, long carrier diffusion length, low exciton binding energies and long-range ambipolar transport characteristics. However, toxicity of lead is the major problem faced by perovskite solar cells and thus there is a need to look for an alternate. The most likely substitution is tin which is not toxic and corresponds to the group 14 in the periodic table. The objective of this review is to briefly outline the prominent achievements and summarize the evolution and advancements of organic inorganic tin halide perovskite solar cells. The drawbacks and technical challenges faced by tin halide perovskite solar cells are also discussed. And it is suggested that further efforts in the direction of its advancements can make this source a cost efficient and long term sustainable technology. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.