Excellent Excitonic Photovoltaic Effect in 2D CsPbBr₃/CdS Heterostructures

Abstract P–n photovoltaic junctions are essential building blocks for optoelectronic devices for energy conversion. However, this photovoltaic efficiency has almost reached its theoretical limit. Here, a brand‐new excitonic photovoltaic effect in 2D CsPbBr₃/CdS heterostructures is revealed. These heterostructures, synthesized by epitaxial growth, display a clean interface and a strong interlayer coupling. The excitonic photovoltaic effect is a function of both the built‐in equilibrium electrical potential energy and the chemical potential energy, which is generated by the significant concentration gradient of electrons and holes at the heterojunction interface. Excitingly, this novel photovoltaic effect results in a large open‐circuit voltage of 0.76 V and a high power conversion efficiency of 17.5%. In addition, high photodetection performance, including a high photoswitch ratio (I_light/I_dark) of 10⁵ and a fast response rate of 23 µs are obtained. These findings provide a new platform for photovoltaic applications.