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In this paper, N-doped TiO 2 (N-TiO 2 ) nanorod arrays were synthesized with hydrothermal method, and perovskite solar cells were fabricated using them as electron transfer layer. The solar cell performance was optimized by changing the N doping contents. The power conversion efficiency of solar cells based on N-TiO 2 with the N doping content of 1% (N/Ti, atomic ratio) has been achieved 11.1%, which was 14.7% higher than that of solar cells based on un-doped TiO 2 . To get an insight into the improvement, some investigations were performed. The structure was examined with X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and Tauc plot spectra indicated the incorporation of N in TiO 2 nanorods. Absorption spectra showed higher absorption of visible light for N-TiO 2 than un-doped TiO 2 . The N doping reduced the energy band gap from 3.03 to 2.74 eV. The photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) spectra displayed the faster electron transfer from perovskite layer to N-TiO 2 than to un-doped TiO 2 . Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) showed the smaller resistance of device based on N-TiO 2 than that on un-doped TiO 2 .

Precursor solution of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3-x Cl x for perovskite solar cells was conventionally prepared by mixing PbCl 2 and CH 3 NH 3 I with a mole ratio of 1:3 (PbCl 2 :CH 3 NH 3 I). While in the present study, CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3-x Cl x -based solar cells were fabricated using the precursor solutions containing PbCl 2 and CH 3 NH 3 I with the mole ratios of 1:3, 1.05:3, 1.1:3, and 1.15:3, respectively. The results display that the solar cells with the mole ratio of 1.1:3 present higher power conversion efficiency and less I-V hysteresis than those with the mole ratio of 1:3. Based on some investigations, it is concluded that the higher efficiency could be due to the smooth and pinhole free film formation, high optical absorption, suitable energy band gap, and the large electron transfer efficiency, and the less I-V hysteresis may be attributed to the small low frequency capacitance of the device.