On sums of squares of primes and a k-th power of prime

In this short paper, we consider the exceptional set of integers, not restricted by elementary congruence conditions, which cannot be represented as sums of two squares of primes and a k-th power of prime for any integer $$k \ge 3$$ . Our results improve the recent results due to Brudern (in: Sander, Steuding, Steuding (eds) From arithmetic to zeta-functions, Springer, Cham 2016). The similar method can be also applied to some related questions in this direction, and this can improve the previous results.