Inorganic Hole Conducting Layers for Perovskite-Based Solar Cells

Hybrid organic-inorganic semiconducting perovskite photovoltaic cells are usually coupled with organic hole conductors. Here, we report planar, inverse CH3NH3PbI3-xClx-based cells with inorganic hole conductors. Using electrodeposited NiO as hole conductor, we have achieved a power conversion efficiency of 7.3%. The maximum VOC obtained was 935 mV with an average VOC value being 785 mV. Preliminary results for similar cells using electrodeposited CuSCN as hole conductor resulted in devices up to 3.8% in efficiency. The ability to obtain promising cells using NiO and CuSCN expands the presently rather limited range of available hole conductors for perovskite cells.