Carbon nanotube arrays for photovoltaic applications

Camacho, R. E.; Morgan, Andre; Flores, Monica Claire; McLeod, T. A.; Kumsomboone, Victor; Mordecai, B. J.; Bhattacharjea, Rajib; Tong, W.; Wagner, B. K.; Flicker, Jack; Turano, Stephan; Ready, W. Jud

doi:10.1007/s11837-007-0037-0

Cited by 70 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Recently, more complex designs have been explored to improve LT efficiency through the use of various 3D architectures (15)(16)(17)(18)(19), including V-folded thin film organic solar cells (17,18), 3D thin film cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells deposited over the top of carbon nanotube tower arrays (15,19), spherical devices, although from solid Si spheres (16), and cylindrical-shaped solar cells (Solyndra Inc.) made of a thin film of copper indium gallium selenium (CIGS) deposited on a glass tube. These designs are able to increase the optical path length through multiple internal and external reflections to enhance light absorption within an optically thin semiconductor absorber.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Two- and three-dimensional folding of thin film single-crystalline silicon for photovoltaic power applications

Guo

Li²,

Ahn

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

205

172

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Fabrication of 3D electronic structures in the micrometer-to-millimeter range is extremely challenging due to the inherently 2D nature of most conventional wafer-based fabrication methods. Self-assembly, and the related method of self-folding of planar patterned membranes, provide a promising means to solve this problem. Here, we investigate self-assembly processes driven by wetting interactions to shape the contour of a functional, nonplanar photovoltaic (PV) device. A mechanics model based on the theory of thin plates is developed to identify the critical conditions for self-folding of different 2D geometrical shapes. This strategy is demonstrated for specifically designed millimeter-scale silicon objects, which are self-assembled into spherical, and other 3D shapes and integrated into fully functional light-trapping PV devices. The resulting 3D devices offer a promising way to efficiently harvest solar energy in thin cells using concentrator microarrays that function without active light tracking systems.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Two- and three-dimensional folding of thin film single-crystalline silicon for photovoltaic power applications

Guo

Li²,

Ahn

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

205

172

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“…Due to the π band's optical transition, novel structures, nanoscale dimension with high aspect radios as well as sparse tube to tube spacing, vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays have achieved extremely high absorption [7][8][9][10]. It had been present that vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) arrays had lowest reflectance of about 0.045% and behaved most similarly to a black body that is an ideal object absorbing all light that falls on it [7,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced Light Absorptivity of Carbon Nanotube Composite Coatings with Conical Micro-structure

Liu¹,

Yang²,

Li³

et al. 2017

dtetr

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ABSTRACT Black coatings with high light absorptivity are of great importance for many applications. It is concluded that the morphology of the coatings can greatly affect the absorptivity. Here, the influence of the morphology in controlling the light absorptivity of carbon nanotube composite coating has been studied. Carbon nanotube composite films are fabricated by painting carbon nanotube-cyanoacrylate slurry on the substrate. Uniform micro-cones on the surface of the coatings were fabricated by laser irradiation in air. The angles of the microcones obtained could be controlled by changing the energy density of the laser pulses. The spectral absorptivity measurement from 0.25 μm to 2 μm shows that the carbon nanotube composite coatings with such conical micro-structure have enhanced light absorptivity. It is also shown that the conical micro-structure with smaller cone angles exhibited much higher light absorptivity. It is proposed that carbon nanotube composite film being irradiated by laser is a simple and efficient method to fabricate black coatings with high light absorptivity.

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“…Self-assembly of complex 3D structures plays a critical role in accomplishing a full range of structural and biological functions in biological systems such as proteins (Lodish et al, 2003). Recently, the self-assembly of 3D structures is being embraced by scientists and engineers as a means to achieve design goals for microscopic devices, e.g., to improve the light trapping efficiency in solar cells (Camacho et al, 2007;Flicker and Ready, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%