Light management: porous 1-dimensional nanocolumnar structures as effective photonic crystals for perovskite solar cellsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5ta08743k

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells are a topic of increasing interest, as in a short time span they are able to lead in the third generation photovoltaics. Organohalide perovskites possess exceptional optoelectronic and physical properties, thus making their implementation possible in many diverse configurations of photovoltaic devices. In this work, we present three different configurations of porous 1-dimensional photonic crystals (1-DPCs) based on alternated nanocolumnar layers of oxides with different refractive indices ( n ) that were deposited by Physical Vapor Deposition at Oblique Angle Deposition (PVD-OAD). They are then implemented as the photoanode in CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 solar cells to improve the management of light into the device. These configurations improved the performance of the photovoltaic system by designing a light interference structure capable of enhancing the absorption capability of the perovskite. A device fabricated using these photonic crystal structures presented an efficiency >12% in contrast with only 10.22% for a reference device based on non-photonic crystal TiO 2 layers deposited under analogous conditions. A strategy such as the use of photonic crystal structure can further push the power conversion efficiency in perovskite solar cells.