The effect of PBEsol GGA and mBJ potentials on the structural, electronic, optical, elastic and thermoelectric properties of A2BAuI6 (A = K or Rb or Cs, B = Sc or Y)

Abstract

Perovskites systems are leading the photovoltaic technology now a days. For the consistent renewable energy applications new materials required with the desirable properties. In this work six new materials are being predicted which may be very useful for the renewable energy applications. The full potential scheme of linearized augmented plane wave with the local orbitals is used for the calculations with the PBEsol GGA and mBJ potentials for the exchange-correlation effects. The structural and elastic parameters of A₂BAuI₆ (A = K or Rb or Cs, B = Sc or Y) are computed, and the responses exhibits that such compounds are stable, have a ductile nature, and are described by a high elastic anisotropy. The bandgaps were identified via the electrical band structure computations for A₂BAuI₆ (A = K, Rb, Cs; B = Sc or Y) compounds as 1.25 eV, 1.64 eV, 1.24 eV, 1.62 eV, 1.25 eV and 2.04 eV with TB-mBJ + SOC approach. The calculated compounds have much dispersion in their bands and minimal carrier effective mass. Lattice thermal conductivity ($K_L$) is computed via Slack's equation for all computed compounds are 0.29 × 10¹⁴ W/mK, 0.31 × 10¹⁴ W/mK, 0.29 × 10¹⁴ W/mK, 0.31 × 10¹⁴ W/mK, 0.39 × 10¹⁴ W/mK and 0.29 × 10¹⁴ W/mK, indicating a promising future for thermoelectric uses. The calculation of thermoelectric parameters, including the power factor, Seebeck coefficient, and figure of merit, serves another prospective purpose and confirms the potential high use of these materials in thermoelectric devices. Likewise, acceptable quality characteristics like long diffusion length, tunable band-gap, high mobility, am-bipolar charge transport, and high absorption reinforce these compounds which make them even more suitable for photovoltaic applications.