📝 SummarXiv

Abstract

BaCd2P2 (BCP) has recently been identified as a new solar absorber with promising optoelectronic properties. Here, we demonstrate the defect tolerance in BCP by comparing its optoelectronic properties with that of the well-studied absorber GaAs. Despite having a low precursor purity, our synthesized BCP samples exhibit a bright band-to-band room-temperature photoluminescence with relatively low surface recombination losses, a high implied open-circuit voltage, and a carrier lifetime of ~300 ns, all comparable to or better than those of a high-purity single-crystalline GaAs wafer. In contrast, GaAs samples synthesized using similar methods as BCP show no band-to-band photoluminescence emissions. To better probe the bulk properties and understand the high optoelectronic performance of BCP, we perform first-principles defect calculations and show that BCP has a much lower Shockley-Read-Hall nonradiative recombination rate from antisite defects compared to GaAs. Our results reveal that BCP is robust to impurities introduced during synthesis and defect-mediated nonradiative recombination, demonstrating its high photovoltaic potential.