Aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition of ultra-thin CuOx films as hole transport material for planar perovskite solar cells

This paper reports on the fabrication of CuO x films to be used as hole transporting layer (HTL) in CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Ultra-thin CuO x coatings were grown onto FTO substrates for the first time via aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) of copper acetylacetonate in methanol. After incorporating into the PSCs prepared at ambient air, a highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.26% with HTL and of 3.34% without HTL were achieved. Our work represents an important step in the development of low-cost CVD technique for fabricating ultra-thin metal oxide functional layers in thin film photovoltaics.