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    Graduate Research Plan Statement

    Uploaded by

    Chen Ying
    This document proposes a novel solar cell architecture that uses carbon nanotubes decorated with nanoparticles and encapsulated in polymers. It aims to improve charge separation and transport by leveraging the efficient charge transport properties of carbon nanotubes and ability of nanoparticles to absorb specific wavelengths of light and tune the bandgap. The design would be fabricated using inkjet printing, a low-cost manufacturing method, and analyzed to demonstrate the charge transport mechanisms. Key aspects of the design include tuning the carbon nanotube and nanoparticle bandgaps so electrons can effectively travel from one to the other and the electrodes, and adding a p-n junction to induce an electric field and further separate electron-hole pairs.

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    Graduate Research Plan Statement

    Uploaded by

    Chen Ying
    13 views3 pages
    This document proposes a novel solar cell architecture that uses carbon nanotubes decorated with nanoparticles and encapsulated in polymers. It aims to improve charge separation and transport by leveraging the efficient charge transport properties of carbon nanotubes and ability of nanoparticles to absorb specific wavelengths of light and tune the bandgap. The design would be fabricated using inkjet printing, a low-cost manufacturing method, and analyzed to demonstrate the charge transport mechanisms. Key aspects of the design include tuning the carbon nanotube and nanoparticle bandgaps so electrons can effectively travel from one to the other and the electrodes, and adding a p-n junction to induce an electric field and further separate electron-hole pairs.

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    Keywords: carbon nanotubes, forest, nanoparticles, organic

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    This document proposes a novel solar cell architecture that uses carbon nanotubes decorated with nanoparticles and encapsulated in polymers. It aims to improve charge separation and transport by leveraging the efficient charge transport properties of carbon nanotubes and ability of nanoparticles to absorb specific wavelengths of light and tune the bandgap. The design would be fabricated using inkjet printing, a low-cost manufacturing method, and analyzed to demonstrate the charge transport mechanisms. Key aspects of the design include tuning the carbon nanotube and nanoparticle bandgaps so electrons can effectively travel from one to the other and the electrodes, and adding a p-n junction to induce an electric field and further separate electron-hole pairs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    13 views3 pages

    Graduate Research Plan Statement

    Uploaded by

    Chen Ying
    This document proposes a novel solar cell architecture that uses carbon nanotubes decorated with nanoparticles and encapsulated in polymers. It aims to improve charge separation and transport by leveraging the efficient charge transport properties of carbon nanotubes and ability of nanoparticles to absorb specific wavelengths of light and tune the bandgap. The design would be fabricated using inkjet printing, a low-cost manufacturing method, and analyzed to demonstrate the charge transport mechanisms. Key aspects of the design include tuning the carbon nanotube and nanoparticle bandgaps so electrons can effectively travel from one to the other and the electrodes, and adding a p-n junction to induce an electric field and further separate electron-hole pairs.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Novel solar architecture design using carbon nanotubes, polymers, and inorganics.

    Keywords: carbon nanotubes, forest, nanoparticles, organic


    Introduction: Organic-Inorganic hybrid solar cells are of interest to the research community
    with numerous papers touting efficiencies of over 10%1. These promising cells are fraught with
    multiple fundamental issues including thermal stability of the hole transport material 2, short
    lifetimes, and processing constraints. The project proposes to create a new architecture for a
    robust hybrid solar cell integrating nanoparticles (NP) matched to a particular wavelength with
    carbon nanotubes (CNT) to maximize light absorption and
    improve electron mobility. CNTs are efficient charge
    transporters that reduce recombination rate of electronhole pairs. Charge transfer between the CNT and NP is
    driven by workfunction difference, allowing bandgap
    tuning of CNTs for electron transfer. The hybrid cell will
    be forested (Figure 1) with carbon nanotubes decorated Figure 1: Proposed architecture for CNTwith nanoparticles and filled to form an aligned NP hybrid cell. Yellow columns are CNT;
    composite material with a thermally stable and printable different dot colors are different NPs.
    polymer3,4.
    The central issue with organic configurations is low power efficiency owing to low electron
    mobility (below 10-4 cm2V-1s-1). Higher mobilities move electrons to electrodes faster, reducing
    recombination rates and increasing current. To increase electron mobility of organic materials,
    CdSe, TiO2 nanorods, NPs, and CNTs have been explored for hybrid organic photovoltaics to
    improve mobility. In addition, low efficiencies of organic solar cells are improved either by
    synthesizing new polymers or stacking organic materials in a tandem configuration. While such
    methods improve efficiencies, introducing new architectures may accelerate performance and
    current understanding of charge transport of organic materials.
    This study proposes to not only investigate fundamental mechanisms but also leverage
    existing manufacturing techniques of inkjet printing to produce robust working cells with high
    efficiencies. Project Goals: (1) improve charge separation and charge transport of new
    architecture (and individual parts); (2) fabricate using inkjet printing, a low cost manufacturing
    method to demonstrate charge mechanisms.
    Research Questions: By growing nanotubes vertically, photogenerated electrons should
    travel faster through the CNT to electrode (cathode). This architecture involves several
    nanoparticle materials to absorb light from specific wavelengths, similar to how tandem cells use
    three junctions to harvest specific wavelengths. When light strikes the device, NPs lose an
    electron that should travel via nanotubes to cathode and then to anode, generating current.
    Carbon nanotube and nanoparticle band gaps have to be designed so electrons can travel
    effectively through conduction bands. To separate electron-hole pairs, a pn-junction needs to be
    added to induce an electric field. This could be achieved by filling CNT-NP bulk with a p-type
    polymer while the cell is encapsulated by an n-type polymer.
    Consumer inkjet printers are investigated for its relatively high resolution (600 dpi) and
    design possibilities. It is possible to leverage multiple ink compartments in printers to combine
    CNTs with different NPs of a specified wavelength. Employing such a feature could eliminate
    the need to process individual CNT/nanoparticle solutions. One other characteristic that makes
    inkjet printers so versatile is its ability to change parameters (hue, saturation, and luminosity)
    using software. Luminosity, or brightness, can vary the amount of material printed. This is
    especially useful in specifying the volume of each printed nanoparticles within the device.
    Printing the entire device may be possible from the 4 ink compartments and software
    capabilities.

    Research Plan: CNTs decorated with NP materials are tuned to NP bandgap energies.
    Specifically, the carbon nanotube conduction band will be lower than the conduction band of its
    paired NP to allow electrons to travel from nanotube to electrode. This is achieved by altering
    physical properties of carbon nanotubes and its indices or through addition of nanoparticles 5,6.
    Poly-triarylamine (PTAA) and P(NDI2OD-T2) are thermally stable polymers that act as p-type
    or n-type, respectively. P(NDI2OD-T2) encapsulates the cell by printing a thin layer on top
    which acts as the top electrode while the bottom electrode (Aluminum) acts as the substrate.
    Within the cell another polymer, PTAA 4, acts as a matrix to hold the carbon nanotube forest.
    To maximize photogenerated electron-hole pairs, nanoparticles are selected to absorb specific
    wavelengths. Near infrared range is around 1910 nanometers (0.65eV); visible light range is
    from 400 nm (3.1 eV) to 700 nm (1.8 eV); and ultraviolet range is 250 nm (5eV) to 390 nm (3.1
    eV). Three materials of interest for use as NPs are Titanium Dioxide, Silicon Carbide, and Cupric
    Oxide for their coverage of the ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared, respectively. Each
    nanoparticle will be decorated on CNTs through synthesis techniques5 and printed using the four
    ink cartridges. If successful, junctions could be eliminated and retain tandem cell functionality,
    reducing material usage. Visualization software can vary the amount of CNT-NP material to print
    by specifying hue, saturation, and luminosity parameters. This work will expand my current
    research in organic inkjet printing, where I successfully printed a polymer, PEDOT:PSS, for a
    different design.
    Intellectual Merit & Broader Impacts: Current Organic, and Organic-Inorganic solar cells
    are constrained by low mobility and incremental performance increases, indicating a need for a
    new approach. The proposal of new architectures based on robust components selected for
    thermal stability, bandgap overlap, and electron transport may accelerate progress in developing
    efficient devices and lead to improved timelines for meeting world challenges for scalable solar
    devices. Printable Hybrid composite solar devices may be a novel way to approach the
    development of solar cells (and indeed has broad applications to catalysis, sensing,
    transistors), combining the best features of CNTs, NPs and Polymers to solve critical issues in
    stability, manufacturing and scalability. Dissemination plans include conference talks at the EU
    PV Solar Energy Conference and the IEEE Photovoltaics Conference, and publications in the
    Organic Electronics Journal and the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.
    Providing low cost and robust solar devices through inkjet printing will enable
    underdeveloped countries to sever their dependence on oil. A 20% efficient cell covering an area
    the size of a few Texas counties can meet Americas electricity demands in 2011. If this endeavor
    can be achieved in the US, printed solar cells have the potential to foster growth in
    underdeveloped countries by severing their dependence on fossil fuels. Enabling access to simple
    energy services such as lighting, water pumps, and basic communication will energize economic
    growth without investments in large facilities for power generation.
    References
    [1] Nrel.gov, 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/images/efficiency_chart.jpg.
    [2] S. Habisreutinger, T. Leijtens, G. Eperon, S. Stranks, R. Nicholas and H. Snaith, 'Carbon Nanotube/Polymer
    Composites as a Highly Stable Hole Collection Layer in Perovskite Solar Cells', Nano Letters, vol. 14, no. 10, pp.
    5561-5568, 2014.
    [3] H. Yan, Z. Chen, Y. Zheng, C. Newman, J. Quinn, F. Dtz, M. Kastler and A. Facchetti, 'A high-mobility
    electron-transporting polymer for printed transistors', Nature, vol. 457, no. 7230, pp. 679-686, 2009.
    [4] J. Heo, S. Im, J. Noh, T. Mandal, C. Lim, J. Chang, Y. Lee, H. Kim, A. Sarkar, M. Nazeeruddin, M. Grtzel and
    S. Seok, 'Efficient inorganicorganic hybrid heterojunction solar cells containing perovskite compound and
    polymeric hole conductors', Nature Photonics, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 486-491, 2013.

    Novel solar architecture design using carbon nanotubes, polymers, and inorganics.
    Keywords: carbon nanotubes, forest, nanoparticles, organic
    [5] U. Maiti, W. Lee, J. Lee, Y. Oh, J. Kim, J. Kim, J. Shim, T. Han and S. Kim, 'Carbon: 25th Anniversary Article:
    Chemically Modified/Doped Carbon Nanotubes & Graphene for Optimized Nanostructures & Nanodevices (Adv.
    Mater. 1/2014)', Adv. Mater., vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 2-2, 2014.
    [6] V. Georgakilas, D. Gournis, V. Tzitzios, L. Pasquato, D. Guldi and M. Prato, 'Decorating carbon nanotubes with
    metal or semiconductor nanoparticles', Journal of Materials Chemistry, vol. 17, no. 26, p. 2679, 2007.

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