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Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube/Polyaniline/n‐Silicon Solar Cells: Fabrication, Characterization, and Performance Measurements
Author(s) -
Tune Daniel D.,
Flavel Benjamin S.,
Quinton Jamie S.,
Ellis Amanda V.,
Shapter Joseph G.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201200600
Subject(s) - carbon nanotube , materials science , polyaniline , silicon , nanotechnology , polymer solar cell , hybrid solar cell , solar cell , nanotube , fabrication , thin film , polymer , optoelectronics , composite material , polymerization , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
Carbon nanotube–silicon solar cells are a recently investigated photovoltaic architecture with demonstrated high efficiencies. Silicon solar‐cell devices fabricated with a thin film of conductive polymer (polyaniline) have been reported, but these devices can suffer from poor performance due to the limited lateral current‐carrying capacity of thin polymer films. Herein, hybrid solar‐cell devices of a thin film of polyaniline deposited on silicon and covered by a single‐walled carbon nanotube film are fabricated and characterized. These hybrid devices combine the conformal coverage given by the polymer and the excellent electrical properties of single‐walled carbon nanotube films and significantly outperform either of their component counterparts. Treatment of the silicon base and carbon nanotubes with hydrofluoric acid and a strong oxidizer (thionyl chloride) leads to a significant improvement in performance.