Improved performance of perovskite solar cells with a TiO2/MoO3 core/shell nanoparticles doped PEDOT:PSS hole-transporter

•TiO2/MoO3 Core/shell NPs with size of about 40 nm are prepared.•Inverted planar perovskite solar cells with TiO2/MoO3 NPs doped PEDOT:PSS HTLs are fabricated.•A highest PCE of 13.63% is obtained.•Superior stability is also found for the devices stored in ambient conditions.

We demonstrate improved performance of inverted planar heterojunction CH3NH3PbI3-xClx perovskite solar cells with a TiO2/MoO3 core/shell nanoparticles (NPs) doped poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) hole-transporting layer (HTL). TiO2/MoO3 Core/shell NPs with size of approximately 40 nm are successfully prepared with a simple wet solution method and are interspersed into PEDOT: PSS layer to construct the HTL. The optimized device shows a high power conversion efficiency of 13.63%, which is dramatically improved compared with the reference device with a pristine PEDOT:PSS HTL. The improvement is mainly attributed to the increased crystalline of the CH3NH3PbI3-xClx film with large-scale domains and a compact morphology. More interesting, the cells exhibit superior stability in ambient conditions, which is attributed to the inhibited penetration of moisture due to the compact morphology of the CH3NH3PbI3-xClx film and the reduced hygroscopicity of the PEDOT:PSS film.

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