Graphene oxide incorporation in Ag-doped ZnO nanocomposite as efficient electron extraction material for planar perovskite solar cells

Abstract

The hybrid metal halide perovskite solar cells have emerged as potential contenders in the photovoltaic market owing to their exceptional optoelectronic properties. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a reasonable option for an electron extraction layer (EEL) in perovskite solar cells due to its wide band gap, energy band alignment with the absorber layer, and ease of production. Spincoating suspensions of ZnO nanocomposites EELs at lower temperatures (110 °C) employed in regular planar triple cation perovskite solar cells. The impact of Ag doping and GO incorporation in ZnO was studied in detail to get insights into the photovoltaic performance of PSC. Due to the inclusion of GO and Ag in ZnO, a significant enhancement in photovoltaic performance was observed and the target GO-Ag-ZnO EEL-based PSC exhibited PCE of 8.72 % which was found almost 16 % higher than pristine ZnO EEL-based PSC. We attribute the enhanced photovoltaic performance to the superior electron transport/extraction facilitated by the inclusion of graphene layers. This improvement can also be linked to the superior quality of the perovskite thin film employed in the study.