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Title: Charge Transfer from Carbon Nanotubes to Silicon in Flexible Carbon Nanotube/Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

Mechanical fragility and insufficient light absorption are two major challenges for thin flexible crystalline Si-based solar cells. Flexible hybrid single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)/Si solar cells are demonstrated by applying scalable room-temperature processes for the fabrication of solar-cell components (e.g., preparation of SWNT thin films and SWNT/Si p–n junctions). The flexible SWNT/Si solar cells present an intrinsic efficiency ≈7.5% without any additional light-trapping structures. By using these solar cells as model systems, the charge transport mechanisms at the SWNT/Si interface are investigated using femtosecond transient absorption. Although primary photon absorption occurs in Si, transient absorption measurements show that SWNTs also generate and inject excited charge carriers to Si. Such effects can be tuned by controlling the thickness of the SWNTs. Thus, findings from this study could open a new pathway for designing and improving the efficiency of photocarrier generation and absorption for high-performance ultrathin hybrid SWNT/Si solar cells.

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
  2. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)
  3. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Dept. of Applied Physics
  4. Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States). NanoScience Technology Center, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Sobotka Research Fund; Terracon Corp., Bellingham, MA (United States); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States); Chasm Advanced Materials, Canton, MA (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
1426448
Report Number(s):
BNL-203328-2018-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 1613-6810
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012704; CBET‐0954985; DMR‐1410171; SC000160; DMR 1119826
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Small
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 13; Journal Issue: 48; Journal ID: ISSN 1613-6810
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; carbon nanotubes; femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy; flexible photovoltaics; hybrid solar cells; silicon

Citation Formats

Li, Xiaokai, Mariano, Marina, McMillon-Brown, Lyndsey, Huang, Jing-Shun, Sfeir, Matthew Y., Reed, Mark A., Jung, Yeonwoong, and Taylor, André D.. Charge Transfer from Carbon Nanotubes to Silicon in Flexible Carbon Nanotube/Silicon Solar Cells. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/smll.201702387.
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Li, Xiaokai, Mariano, Marina, McMillon-Brown, Lyndsey, Huang, Jing-Shun, Sfeir, Matthew Y., Reed, Mark A., Jung, Yeonwoong, & Taylor, André D.. Charge Transfer from Carbon Nanotubes to Silicon in Flexible Carbon Nanotube/Silicon Solar Cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201702387
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Li, Xiaokai, Mariano, Marina, McMillon-Brown, Lyndsey, Huang, Jing-Shun, Sfeir, Matthew Y., Reed, Mark A., Jung, Yeonwoong, and Taylor, André D.. Fri . "Charge Transfer from Carbon Nanotubes to Silicon in Flexible Carbon Nanotube/Silicon Solar Cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201702387. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1426448.
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@article{osti_1426448,
title = {Charge Transfer from Carbon Nanotubes to Silicon in Flexible Carbon Nanotube/Silicon Solar Cells},
author = {Li, Xiaokai and Mariano, Marina and McMillon-Brown, Lyndsey and Huang, Jing-Shun and Sfeir, Matthew Y. and Reed, Mark A. and Jung, Yeonwoong and Taylor, André D.},
abstractNote = {Mechanical fragility and insufficient light absorption are two major challenges for thin flexible crystalline Si-based solar cells. Flexible hybrid single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)/Si solar cells are demonstrated by applying scalable room-temperature processes for the fabrication of solar-cell components (e.g., preparation of SWNT thin films and SWNT/Si p–n junctions). The flexible SWNT/Si solar cells present an intrinsic efficiency ≈7.5% without any additional light-trapping structures. By using these solar cells as model systems, the charge transport mechanisms at the SWNT/Si interface are investigated using femtosecond transient absorption. Although primary photon absorption occurs in Si, transient absorption measurements show that SWNTs also generate and inject excited charge carriers to Si. Such effects can be tuned by controlling the thickness of the SWNTs. Thus, findings from this study could open a new pathway for designing and improving the efficiency of photocarrier generation and absorption for high-performance ultrathin hybrid SWNT/Si solar cells.},
doi = {10.1002/smll.201702387},
journal = {Small},
number = 48,
volume = 13,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {11}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201702387
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