Room-temperature processed films of colloidal carved rod-shaped nanocrystals of reduced tungsten oxide as interlayers for perovskite solar cells

Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2018 Apr 25;20(16):11396-11404. doi: 10.1039/c8cp00645h.

Abstract

Thanks to their high stability, good optoelectronic and extraordinary electrochromic properties, tungsten oxides are among the most valuable yet underexploited materials for energy conversion applications. Herein, colloidal one-dimensional carved nanocrystals of reduced tungsten trioxide (WO3-x) are successfully integrated, for the first time, as a hole-transporting layer (HTL) into CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite solar cells with a planar inverted device architecture. Importantly, the use of such preformed nanocrystals guarantees the facile solution-cast-only deposition of a homogeneous WO3-x thin film at room temperature, allowing achievement of the highest power conversion efficiency ever reported for perovskite solar cells incorporating raw and un-doped tungsten oxide based HTL.