Improvement of photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells with a ZnO/Zn2SnO4 composite compact layer

•ZnO/Zn2SnO4 composite compact layer is adopted to replace the TiO2 compact layer.•ZnO/Zn2SnO4 is helpful to improve the corresponding photo-current effectively.•The optimum efficiency of perovskite solar cell reaches 12.03%.

In this study, ZnO/Zn2SnO4 (ZSO) composite is synthesized as a promising alternative compact layer to TiO2 by spray pyrolysis method. Owing to the ZnO/ZSO composite possesses higher carrier mobility and suitable band gap structure, it will behave well in the application of solar cells. The characterization results show that the ZnO/ZSO composite compact layer manifests better optical transmittance, enhanced electrons collective efficiency and superior electrical conductivity. Consequently, the corresponding photo-current is improved effectively when compared with that of TiO2 compact layer. The optimum efficiency of perovskite solar cell based on the ZnO/ZSO composite compact layer reaches 12.03% at AM 1.5 solar light of 100 mW cm−2, which is 18% higher than that of perovskite solar cell based on the TiO2 compact layer.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (146KB)Download full-size image