Carbon Nanotube‐Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

Due to the high cost of silicon photovoltaics there is currently great interest in finding alternative semiconductor materials for light harvesting devices. Single‐walled carbon nanotubes are an allotrope of carbon with unique electrical and optical properties and are promising as future photovoltaic materials. It is thus important to investigate the methods of exploiting their properties in photovoltaic devices. In addition to already extensive research using carbon nanotubes in organic photovoltaics and photoelectrochemical cells, another way to do this is to combine them with a relatively well understood model semiconductor such as silicon. Nanotube‐silicon heterojunction solar cells are a recent photovoltaic architecture with demonstrated power conversion efficiencies of up to ∼14% that may in part exploit the photoactivity of carbon nanotubes.

Implementation of antireflection layers for improved efficiency of carbon nanotube–silicon heterojunction solar cells

“…Carbon nanotubes are one of the allotropes of carbon and due to their excellent electrical and optical properties [4,5], they have been applied in new generation solar cells [6,7], such as those using CNT-Si heterojunctions [8]. The structure of a CNT-Si heterojunction solar cell is similar to that of an n-type monocrystalline silicon solar cell but with replacement of the p-type emitter layer and front contact metallization by a CNT film, which serves both purposes.…”

Ag nanoparticle-decorated single wall carbon nanotube films for photovoltaic applications

“…Recently, SWCNTs/n-Si PV devices have evolved into their own field of research at the intersection of well-established silicon-based technology and cutting-edge nanomaterial science. These devices typically rely on nanoheterojunctions of n-type silicon and p-type SWCNTs films [6][7][8][9][10][11]. It has been reported that the transparency and electrical conductivity of the SWCNTs films play a direct role in the performance of such PV devices [12,13].…”

Recent developments concerning the dispersion of carbon nanotubes in surfactant/polymer systems by MD simulation

“…Outstanding mechanical [1], electrical [2], and thermal properties [3] of CNTs makes them a promising candidate for a wide variety of applications, such as biomedical science [4], field emission [5], super-capacitors [6], molecular sensors [7] reinforced composites [8], therapeutics [9], antitumor therapeutics [10], gene or drug delivery [11], transistors [12], solar cells [13], catalyst supports [14], hydrogen storage [15], gas separation [16], lithium batteries [17] and so on [18,19]. However, their insolubility in both water and organic solvents hinders the path toward the practical applications of this unique class of materials.…”