Carbon nanotube-based heterostructures for solar energy applications

Abstract

One means of combining the unique physical and chemical properties of both carbon nanotubes and complementary material motifs (such as metal sulfide quantum dots (QDs), metal oxide nanostructures, and polymers) can be achieved by generating carbon nanotube (CNT)-based heterostructures. These materials can be subsequently utilized as novel and interesting constituent building blocks for the assembly of functional light energy harvesting devices and because of their architectural and functional flexibility, can potentially open up novel means of using and taking advantage of existing renewable energy sources. In this review, we present the reliable and reproducible synthesis of several unique model CNT-based heterostructured systems as well as include an accompanying discussion about the charge transfer and energy flow properties of these materials for their potential incorporation into a range of practical solar energy conversion devices.

Hybrid density functional study on the electronic structures and properties of P3HT‐PbS and P3HT‐CdS hybrid interface for photovoltaic applications

“…Thus, holes could not move from PbS to P3HT, leading to a reduction in photovoltaic performance of the system. Our energy alignment agrees well with recent experimental reports in which the measured HOMO P3HT /VBM PbS offset is only 0.1 (0.5) eV while the LUMO P3HT /CBM PbS offset is about 0.7 (1.2) eV . Furthermore, experimental result has shown a far low power conversion efficiency of P3HT/PbS system, reaching up to only 0.01–0.04% whereas that of P3HT/CdS is about 0.60–0.72% .…”

Ideal near-field thermophotovoltaic cells

“…Note that nearly identical performance would occur if the CNTs were exchanged for semiconductor nanowires [36]. We have focused on this CNT design, despite current challenges in fabrication and electron-hole pair collection [37], primarily because the thermal robustness [22,38] and low bandgap of CNTs seems ideally suited to TPV applications.…”

Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell Counter Electrodes Based on Carbon Nanotubes

“…Power generation through burning fossil fuels also brings significant damage to the environment. The energy supply from the sun to the earth is considerable; it is estimated to be around 3 10 24 J year À1 , [6] which is almost a thousand times higher than what we currently consume. [2][3][4][5] Producing energy from the sun may be the most ideal source, owing to its huge electricity production.…”