Applied
cutting-edge electronic structure and phonon simulations
provide a reliable knowledge about the stability of perovskite structures
and their electronic properties, which are crucial for design of effective
nanomaterials. Gold is one of the exceptional elements, which can
exist both as a monovalent and a trivalent ion in the B site of a
double perovskite such as A2BIBIIIX6. However, until now, electronic properties of Cs2AuIAuIIIX6 have not been
sufficiently explored and this material was never synthesized using
Au1+ and Au3+ precursors in the preparation
route. Here, computational simulations combined with an experimental
study provide new insight into the properties and synthesis route
of Cs2AuIAuIIIX6 (X =
Cl, Br, and I) perovskites. First-principles calculations reveal that
tetragonal Cs2AuIAuIIIX6 (X = I, Br, Cl) molecules present a band gap of 1.10, 1.15, and
1.40 eV, respectively. Application of novel approaches in the simulations
of the VB-XPS for Cs2AuIAuIIICl6 allows replication of the observed spectrum and provides
strong evidence of the reliability of the obtained results for the
other perovskites Cs2AuIAuIIIX6, X = Br, I. Following theoretical findings, a one-step preparation
route of the Cs2AuIAuIIICl6 is developed using a combination of monovalent and trivalent gold
precursors at a relatively low temperature. It should be emphasized
that this is the first synthesis of this material at low temperatures,
allowing for obtaining highly crystalline Cs2Au2Cl6 particles with controlled morphology and without gold
impurities. The band gap of synthesized Cs2AuIAuIIICl6 is extended into the NIR spectral
range, where most other double perovskites are limited to higher energies,
limiting their usage in single junction solar cells or in photocatalysis.
The as-synthesized Cs2AuIAuIIICl6 exhibits high efficiency in a photocatalytic toluene degradation
reaction under visible light irradiation. The developed approach provides
information necessary for structure manipulation at the early stage
of its synthesis and offers a new and useful guidance for design of
novel improved lead-free inorganic halide perovskite with interesting
optical and photocatalytic properties.