Improved efficient perovskite solar cells based on Ta-doped TiO2 nanorod arrays

Organometal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are nowadays regarded as a rising star in photovoltaics. In particular, PSCs incorporating oriented TiO2 nanorod (NR) arrays as the electron transport layer (ETL) have attracted significant attention owing to TiO2 NR's superior electron transport abilities and its potential in long-term stable PSCs. In addition to improve the electron-transport ability of TiO2 NRs, the tuning of the band alignments between the TiO2 NR array and the perovskite layer is also crucial for achieving efficient solar cells. This work describes a facile, one-step, solvothermal method for the preparation of tantalum (Ta) doped TiO2 NR arrays for efficient PSCs. It is shown that the trace doping with Ta tunes the electronic structure of TiO2 NRs by a synergistic effect involving the lower 5d orbitals of the doped Ta5+ ions and the reduced oxygen vacancies. The synergistic tuning of the electronic structure improves the band alignment at the TiO2 NR/perovskite interface and boosts the short-circuit current and the fill factor. By using the optimized doped TiO2 NR array as the ETL, a record efficiency of 19.11% was achieved, which is the highest among one-dimensional-array based PSCs.