Abstract
Transparent electrodes are of great importance in electronics and energy technologies. At present, transparent conductive oxides are mainly n-type conductors dominating the market and have restricted the technological advancements. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have recently emerged as promising p-type transparent conductor owing to their superior hole mobility, conductivity, transparency, flexibility and possibility to tune the work function. Here, we develop a novel rational design of p-type flexible transparent conductive film (TCF) based on SWCNTs combined with poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS), molybdenum oxide and SWCNT fibers. In a configuration of SWCNTs-MoO3-PEDOT:PSS/SWCNT fibers, we achieved a record equivalent sheet resistance of 17 Ω/sq with a transmittance of 90% at 550 nm and a high degree of flexibility. We demonstrate that our solar cells developed on the basis of the proposed electrode and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) yield an outstanding short-circuit current density of Jsc = 15.03 mA/cm2 and a record power conversion efficiency of PCE = 8.8% for SWCNTs/a-Si:H hybrid solar cells. We anticipate that this novel rationally designed p-type TCF opens a new avenue in widespread energy technologies, where high hole conductivity and transparency of the material are prerequisites for their successful implementation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 104183 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-9 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Nano Energy |
| Volume | 67 |
| Early online date | 1 Jan 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2020 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Funding
P.M.R. and A.G.N. acknowledge the Russian Science Foundation for the support (synthesis and doping of SWCNTs) by project # 17-19-01787 . H.M., O.S. and M.V. acknowledge the partial financial support by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany ( BMBF , ref. number 01DJ15030 ). S.B and M.D acknowledge the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research ( IUT19-28 ), and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund project TK141 . P.M.R thanks for the partial financial support from Doctoral Studies Internationalization Program Dora Plus activity 2.2 financed by European Regional Development Fund and EDUFI Fellowship (# TM-19-11028 ) from Finnish National Agency for Education . Appendix A Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.104183 . Pramod M. Rajanna is a PhD student in Aalto University, Finland and Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia. He previously worked as Researcher in EWE Research Center for Energy Technology NEXT ENERGY (Current, German Aerospace Center-DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems) and Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. He received his Bachelor's and Master's in Electronics at University of Mysore, India in 2007 and 2009 respectively. His current research is focused on the application of SWCNT thin films as heterostructures for solar cell applications. Dr. Sci. Albert G. Nasibulin is a Professor at Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Moscow, Russia) and an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University. He held an Academy Research Fellow position (term 2006–2011). He got his PhD in Physical Chemistry (1996) and Doctor of Science at Saint-Petersburg Technical State University (Russia). His main recent research topic is devoted to transparent, flexible, stretchable and conductive single-walled CNT films and their numerous applications in photonics, photovoltaics and optoelectronics. He has a successful background in an academic research with over 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 31patents. Dr. Peter D. Lund is a Professor in Engineering Physics and Advanced Energy Systems at Aalto University, Finland. He has 40 years of experience in new energy technologies, including solar and fuel cells. He has had visiting positions in China and Germany. Dr Lund is active in senior roles within European Union energy initiatives: he has chaired the Advisory Group Energy of European Commission and the Energy Steering Panel of European Academies Science Advisory Council. He has served in an advisory role for many energy programs worldwide. He is member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and the Swedish Engineering Academy in Finland. He has published 500 research papers, and received several awards, including the Chinese Jinling Award in 2016. Dr. Hosni Meddeb is a recipient of INTEL-KACST Consortium scholarship to conduct his doctoral research at IMEC in Belgium. In 2015, he received his Ph.D. degree in Physics, on the development of amorphous silicon thin films for Si heterojunction solar cells. For two years later, he joined the electrical engineering-nanoelectronics department at Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation (3IT) in Sherbrooke-Canada, developing tunnel field-effect transistors for CMOS technology. Since 2017, he is working as research scientist at German Aerospace Center, DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems, involved in the photovoltaics activities and solar cells integration based on novel functional layers and nanostructured optoelectronic devices. Dr. Oleg Sergeev owned his Ph.D. in Material Science in the field of light-emitting sol-gel nanostructures in 2001. His postdoctoral research at the University of Wuppertal, Germany was devoted to the development and application of unique near-field cathodoluminescence characterization technique. Since 2009 he develops solar cells at DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems (former EWE Research Center for Energy Technology NEXT ENERGY) in Oldenburg. Dr. Sergei Bereznev received his Ph.D. degree in 2003 in chemical and material science from Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech). He worked as a researcher and senior researcher at the Department of Materials Science, TalTech from 2000 to 2016. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Materials and Environmental Technology at TalTech. His current research interests include the development of novel functional layers and hybrid structures for optoelectronics, nanoscale coatings, and growth studies of nanostructures. Alexey P. Tsapenko is currently a Ph.D. student at Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and Aalto University. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Optotechnics from Bauman Moscow State Technical University in 2011 and 2013, respectively. His research focuses on the development of state-of-the-art flexible and stretchable material solutions for ITO replacement and diverse investigation of the carrier dynamics of the pristine and treated/doped SWCNTs. Dr. Martin Vehse is head of the department Urban and Residential Technologies at the DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems. He studied physics at the University of Bremen, finished his Ph.D. study with the doctoral level in 2001. Afterwards, he spent a post-doctoral period at the University of California, Santa Barbara at the Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids, working in the field of conducting polymers. In 2004, he started his professional carrier as project manager on OLED technology at the company Novaled GmbH, and joined the photovoltaics activities at the research institute NEXT ENERGY in August 2010. Since 2017 he is working at the German Aerospace Center. Dr. Olga Volobujeva is currently Senior Researcher in Department of Materials and Environmental Technology at the Tallinn University of Technology. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Chemical and Material Science from TUT in 2008. Her research focuses on fabrication and characterization of chalcogenide-based thin film solar cells. Dr. Mati Danilson received his B.S. degree in applied physics from Tallinn University of Technology under the supervision of Prof. Jüri Krustok, in 2003. Then he obtained his M.S. degree in materials science also in Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia in 2005. During the master studies he worked as extraordinary researcher, later during Ph.D. studies as researcher in Department of Materials Science, Tallinn University of Technology. In 2016 he received his Ph.D. degree in materials science from the Tallinn University of Technology. His scientific interests are focused on solar energy material XPS studies and solar cell opto-electrical studies.
Keywords
- Composite
- Flexible
- Hybrid thin film solar cells
- Single-walled carbon nanotubes
- Transparent p-type electrode
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Hybrid heterojunction solar cells using single-walled carbon nanotubes and amorphous silicon thin films
13/05/2020
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