Performance of WO3-incorporated carbon electrodes for ambient mesoscopic perovskite solar cells

The stability of perovskite solar cells (PSC) is often compromised by the organic hole transport materials (HTMs). We report here the effect of WO3 as an inorganic HTM for carbon electrodes for improved stability in PSCs, which are made under ambient conditions. Sequential fabrication of the PSC was performed under ambient conditions with mesoporous TiO2/Al2O3/CH3NH3PbI3 layers, and, on the top of these layers, the WO3 nanoparticle-embedded carbon electrode was used. Different concentrations of WO3 nanoparticles as HTM incorporated in carbon counter electrodes were tested, which varied the stability of the cell under ambient conditions. The addition of 7.5% WO3 (by volume) led to a maximum power conversion efficiency of 10.5%, whereas the stability of the cells under ambient condition was ∼350 h, maintaining ∼80% of the initial efficiency under light illumination. At the same time, the higher WO3 concentration exhibited an efficiency of 9.5%, which was stable up to ∼500 h with a loss of only ∼15% of the initial efficiency under normal atmospheric conditions and light illumination. This work demonstrates an effective way to improve the stability of carbon-based perovskite solar cells without affecting the efficiency for future applications.