Zinc Stannate Nanorod as an Electron Transporting Layer for Highly Efficient and Hysteresis-less Perovskite Solar Cells

Mohammad Mahdi Tavakoli 1, 2, Email

Daniel Prochowicz 3

Pankaj Yadav 4

Rouhollah Tavakoli 1

Michael Saliba 5

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, 14588 Tehran, Iran.

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland

Department of Solar Energy, School of Technology, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar-382 007, Gujarat, India

5Adolphe Merkle Institute, Chemins des Verdiers 4, CH-1700 Fribourg

Abstract

Careful engineering of the electron transfer layer (ETL) is a promising approach to improve the efficiency of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this study, we demonstrate the potential of using zinc stannate (Zn2SnO4, or ZSO from here) as ETL for the fabrication of highly efficient PSCs. ZSO was deposited on top of FTO glass as thin films and nanorod arrays using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) technique. Optical characterizations reveal that perovskite films deposited on such nanorod arrays of ZSO have a lower transmittance exhibiting better charge extraction properties compared to the planar ZSO thin films. The best ZSO-based device reached a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.24% and a high current density of 23.8 mA/cm2. Moreover, these devices showed a lower hysteresis index in compared to the ZSO planar based devices.

Zinc Stannate Nanorod as an Electron Transporting Layer for Highly Efficient and Hysteresis-less Perovskite Solar Cells