Simple route to interconnected, hierarchically structured, porous Zn2SnO4 nanospheres as electron transport layer for efficient perovskite solar cells

Constructing electron transport layer (ETL) with higher carrier mobility and suitable bandgap is of key importance as it greatly influences the photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Zn2SnO4 (ZTO) carries a high electron mobility of 10–30 cm2 V−1 s−1, an order of magnitude over the widely used TiO2 ETL in PSCs, rendering it an excellent alternative to TiO2 ETL. Herein, we report a simple yet robust polymer-templating route to interconnected, hierarchically structured, porous ZTO nanospheres as an efficient ETL for high-performance organolead halide PSCs. The porous ZTO nanospheres ETL, composed of an assembly of 4.5-nm ZTO nanoparticles on the surface of porous nanosphere possessing 80–100 nm cavity, renders markedly improved light absorption, enhanced electron extraction, facilitated charger transportation, and suppressed carrier recombination in the resulting PSCs, which exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.14%, greatly outperforming the device based on the ZTO nanoparticles (14.02%; i.e., without porosity). As such, the strategy for crafting porous yet hierarchically structured semiconductors with high carrier mobility may open up an avenue to create robust ETL, and by extension, hole transport layer (HTL) for high-performance optoelectronics. The porous Zn2SnO4 nanospheres electron transport layer (ETL) prepared by polymer-templating route with large porosity, high surface area, and three-dimensional interconnected structure renders markedly improved light absorption, enhanced electron extraction, facilitated charger transportation, and suppressed carrier recombination in the resulting PSCs. [Display omitted] •A polymer-templating route to interconnected, hierarchically structured ETL for PSCs with markedly improved efficiency is developed.•Hierarchically structured ZTO nanospheres as ETL for PSCs renders enhanced light absorption, electron extraction and transportation.•The strategy of crafting hierarchically structured semiconductors opens up an avenue to create robust ETL for optoelectronics.