High-throughput screening of KBX3 halide perovskites: Structural, optoelectronic, and thermoelectric properties via DFT and machine learning with uncertainty quantification


Ezzine K., Khenata M., Litimein F., Khachai H., UĞUR G., Jafarova V., ...Daha Fazla

Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, cilt.217, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 217
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.jpcs.2026.113798
  • Dergi Adı: Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Chemical Abstracts Core, Chimica, Compendex, INSPEC
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Bandgap engineering, DFT, Halide perovskites, High-throughput screening, Machine learning, Thermoelectrics
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This study combines density functional theory (DFT) and machine learning (ML) to investigate KBX3 halide perovskites for energy applications. First, explicit DFT calculations using the FP-LAPW method with PBEsol and TB-mBJ functionals were performed for four representative compounds, namely KGeCl3, KGeBr3, KSnCl3, and KSnBr3, which were found to be direct-gap semiconductors with favorable optical absorption and thermoelectric performance. To accelerate discovery beyond these four compounds, machine-learning screening was performed across 20 KBX3 base compositions using a synthetic descriptor-augmented dataset of 100 samples. Five-fold cross-validation yielded R2 = 0.852 ± 0.055 for bandgap prediction and R2 = 0.893 ± 0.120 for ZT prediction, while independent test-set performance gave R2 = 0.615 with RMSE = 0.270 eV for bandgap and R2 = 0.832 with RMSE = 0.104 for ZT. The predicted bandgaps span approximately 0.45–1.77 eV, while the highest predicted ZT values at 600 K are obtained for Pb-containing compositions, especially KPbI3 and KPbBr3. Therefore, the ML results are interpreted as screening-level predictions that identify promising compositional regions for further DFT validation.