CARBON NANOTUBES FOR SOLAR CELLS

In Partial Fulfillment of
Requirements for the Award of Degree of

B.E (E&CE)

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC AND COMMUCATION

ENGINEERING OF VTU

GSSS INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

KARNATAKA, INDIA

YEAR
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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Project report on “Carbon Nanotube Solar Cells” submitted by Name
of the Student isthe result of her/his original research work completed under GSSS Institute of
Engineering and Technology. To the best of our knowledge & belief the work embodied in this
Project Report has not formed earlier the basis for the award of any degree or similar title of this
for any other examining body.

Project Guide Coordinator Academics Director

(Name) (Prof. Name) (Name )

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 INDEX

Ch.No. Title Pg.No.

1 INTRODUCTION 7

1.1 History & Discovery 9

1.2 Special Properties Of Carbon Nanotubes 10

1.3 Classification Of Nanotubes 11

1.3.1Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT) 11

1.3.2. Multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) 12

1.4 Carbon Nanotube In Photovoltaics 13

2 METHOD AND IMPLEMENTATION OF TECHNIQUE 14

2.1 Arc Discharge Method 14
2.2 Laser Ablation 14
2.3 Chemical Vapor Deposition (Cvd) 15
2.4 Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes 16
2.4.1 Different Synthesis Techniques 16
2.4.2 Laser Ablation Method 18
2.4.3 Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Method 18
2.4.4 Precursor 19
2.4.5 Electrical Properties of CNTs 19
2.4.6 Chemical Properties of CNTs 22
3. Functionalization of CNTs 23
4. CNT as a Solar Cell 23
5.Mechanism of Solar Cell 24
6.Thin Film Based Solar Cell 25
3 APPLICATION 30
30
3.1 Electronic Applications of Carbon Nanotubes

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 3.2 Conductive Composites 30

3.3 Electron Emitters 31

31

3.4 Application of carbon nanotubes in perovskite solar cells

3.5 Carbon nanotube composites in the photoactive layer 33
3.6 CNTs in dye-sensitized solar cells 36
3.7carbon Nano Tubes As Transparent Electrodes 37

4 ADVANTAGES 39
5 CONCLUSION 40

REFERENCES 43

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 ABSTRACT

Carbon nanotubes have been explored in light-harvesting and photovoltaic devices because of
their unique optoelectronic properties. This chapter provides a brief description of the
optoelectronic properties of carbon nanotubes, particularly single-wall carbon nanotubes
(SWCNTs), and their implication in various solar cell applications including donor–acceptor
solar cells, polymer solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells, where carbon nanotubes are
utilized as photoactive materials. Carbon-nanotube-based electrodes in photovoltaic devices are
also introduced. Carbon-nanotube-based light-harvesting devices are reviewed in terms of
fabrication and material processing as well as performance. Finally, advanced emerging methods
and the future outlook for carbon-nanotube-based solar cells are discussed.

The use of carbon nanotubes in photovoltaics is still challenging due to different issues
connected to their synthesis, purification, functionalization, processing and device integration.
From this perspective at first we review on selected contributions dealing with the above issues;
then we focus on the advantages and limitations of carbon nanotubes for the development of
organic solar cells.

We present proof-of-concept all-carbon solar cells. They are made of a photoactive side of
predominantly semiconducting nanotubes for photoconversion and a counter electrode made of a
natural mixture of carbon nanotubes or graphite, connected by a liquid electrolyte through a
redox reaction. The cells do not require rare source materials such as In or Pt, nor high-grade
semiconductor processing equipment, do not rely on dye for photoconversion and therefore do
not bleach, and are easy to fabricate using a spray-paint technique. We observe that cells with a
lower concentration of carbon nanotubes on the active semiconducting electrode perform better
than cells with a higher concentration of nanotubes. This effect is contrary to the expectation that
a larger number of nanotubes would lead to more photoconversion and therefore more power
generation. We attribute this to the presence of metallic nanotubes that provide a short for photo-
excited electrons, bypassing the load.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I might want to express my unique thanks of appreciation to my instructor and in addition our
foremost …who gave me the brilliant chance to do this great task on the theme …. , which
additionally helped me in completing a great deal of Research and I came to think about such a
significant number of new things I am extremely appreciative to them.

Besides I might likewise want to thank my folks and companions who helped me a great deal in
completing this venture inside the restricted time. I am making this venture for imprints as well
as increment my insight.

On account of ALL WHO HELPED ME

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 I. INTRODUCTION

One of the greatest impacts on nanoscience and nanotechnology has been made by the discovery
of carbon nanotubes. Science the discovery of carbon nanotubes by Iijima in 1991great progress
has been made in many areas of sciences. Lots of research works are going onto understand their
unusual behaviors and to improved it.
Humanities biggest problems are energy and environment. This is because ofsudden rise in
population and limited sources of energies are available on earth as well as thecurrent methods of
generation of energy such as chemical, mechanical which emits co2 andother dangerous gases
which lead to greenhouse effect. Also two important conventionalsources of energy are coal &
fossil fuels. But if we see today’s energy consumption it is largecompared with food
consumption. It’s inevitable. But just how soon will the vital fuel becomeso scare and expensive
that we are forced to make hard choices about how we live? If we donot make the changes in
current technology we will cross a critical threshold & global floodingwill damage our earth. So
one of the best option to avoid energy crises is use of solar energybecause the earth receives
more energy from the sun is just one hour than the world uses in awhole year. But today’s solar
panels of first and second generation has low efficiency and highcost. So introduction of
nanotechnology in solar energy will help us to eliminate this problem.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of Carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure.
Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1,
significantly larger than for any other material. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are made by rolling up
of sheet of GRAPHENE into a cylinder. Graphene is basically a 2D single layer of graphite. In
case of graphite it has a layered, planar structure. In each layer, the carbon atoms are arranged in
a honeycomb lattice (fig. 1.1) with separation of 0.142 nm, and the distance between planes is
0.335 nm. Atoms in the plane are bonded covalently and this 2D honeycomb layers are bonded
by weak van der waals bond which makes graphite soft materials. In ghaphene (fig. 1.2) carbon
atoms are bonded covalently which makes it stronger than many strong metals. The 𝑠𝑝2 bonds in
graphene are stronger than 𝑠𝑝3 bonds in diamond that makes grapheme the strongest material.
The lattice structure of grapheme in real space consists of hexagonal arrangement of carbon
atoms as shown in Fig. 1.3a. An isolated carbon atom has four valence electrons in its 2s, and 2p
atomic orbitals. While forming into graphene, three atomic orbitals of the carbon atom, 2s, 2𝑝

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,and 2𝑝𝑦 , are hybridized into three 𝑠𝑝2orbitals. These 𝑠𝑝2orbitals are in the same plane while
the remaining2𝑝 , is perpendicular to other orbitals as shown in Fig. 1.3b. The σ bonds between
the adjacent carbon atoms are formed by the 𝑠𝑝2hybridized orbitals, whereas the 2𝑝𝑧orbitals
form the π bonds that are out of the plane of grapheme

Carbon Nanotubes with their extraordinary properties in terms of strength, thermal and electrical
properties are poised to have a big impact on the future of material sciences, electronics and
nanotechnology. Owing to their specialized structures and minute diameter, they can be utilized
in the creation of ultra-thin energy storage devices which in today’s world where electronics is
getting smaller could redefine the electronics market and replace capacitors and batteries they
way we see them now. Research and development around carbon nanotubes is moving ahead

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yielding new forms, new applications and new material based on this unique structure and we
take a look into this breakthrough in science and the innovation that surrounds it as it promises to
be a large part or small devices of the future.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs; also known as bucky tubes) are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical
nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to
132,000,000:1, which is significantly larger than any other material. These cylindrical carbon
molecules have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications in
nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science, as well as potential uses
in architectural fields. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and
are efficient thermal conductors.

Nanotubes are members of the fullerene structural family, which also includes the spherical
bucky balls. The ends of a nanotube might be capped with a hemisphere of the bucky ball
structure. Their name is derived from their size, since the diameter of a nanotube is on the order
of a few nanometers (approximately 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair), while they can be
up to 18 centimeters in length (as of 2010). Nanotubes are categorized as single-walled
nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled nanotubes -- (MWNTs)

1.1HISTORY & DISCOVERY

Until the mid-1980’s pure solid carbon was thought to exist in only two physical forms,diamond
and graphite. Diamond and graphite have different physical structures and propertieshowever
their atoms are both arranged in covalently bonded networks. These two differentphysical forms
of carbon atoms are called allotropes.
In 1985 a group of researchers led by Richard Smalley and Robert Curl of Rice Universityin
Houston and Harry Kroto of the University of Sussex in England made an interestingdiscovery.
They vaporized a sample of graphite with an intense pulse of laser light and used astream of
helium gas to carry the vaporized carbon into a mass spectrometer. The massspectrum showed
peaks corresponding to clusters of carbon atoms, with a particularly strongpeak corresponding to
molecules composed of 60 carbon atoms, 𝐶60. The fact that𝐶60.

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clusters were so easily formed led the group to propose that a new form or allotrope of
carbonhad been discovered. It was spherical in shape and formed a ball with 32 faces. Of the 32
faces, 12 were pentagons and 20 were hexagons exactly like a soccer ball

𝐶60 Fullerene.

1.2 SPECIAL PROPERTIES OF CARBON NANOTUBES:

Strength:

Carbon nanotubes are the strongest and stiffest materials yet discovered in terms of tensile
strength and elastic modulus respectively. This strength results from the covalent sp² bonds
formed between the individual carbon atoms. In 2000, a multi-walled carbon nanotube was
tested to have a tensile strength of 63 gigapascals (GPa). This translates into the ability to endure
tension of a weight equivalent to 6422 kg on a cable with cross-section of 1 mm2.

Hardness:
Diamond is considered to be the hardest material, and it is well known that graphite transforms
into diamond under conditions of high temperature and high pressure. One study succeeded in
the synthesis of a super-hard material by compressing SWNTs to above 24 GPa at room

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temperature. The hardness of this material was measured with a nano indenter as 62– 152 GPa.
The hardness of reference diamond and boron nitride samples was 150 and 62 GPa,
Respectively

Kinetic:
Multi-walled nanotubes, multiple concentric nanotubes precisely nested within one another,
exhibit a striking telescoping property whereby an inner nanotube core may slide, almost without
friction, within its outer nanotube shell thus creating an atomically perfect linear or rotational
bearing. This is one of the first true examples of molecular nanotechnology, the precise
positioning of atoms to create useful machines. Already this property has been utilized to create
the world's smallest rotational motor.

Electrical:
Because of the symmetry and unique electronic structure of graphene, the structure of a nanotube
strongly affects its electrical properties. They function as semiconductors. Multi walled carbon
nanotubes with interconnected inner shells show superconductivity with a relatively high
transition temperature Tc = 12 K. In contrast, the Tc value is an order of magnitude lower for
ropes of single-walled carbon nanotubes or for MWNTs with usual, noninterconnected shells.

1.3 CLASSIFICATION OF NANOTUBES

Classification of carbon nanotubes depends on the number the graphene layers. The
CNT’s consisting of single round rolled are called Single Walled CNT (SWCNT) while when
there are number of rolled layers then it is called Multi Walled CNT’s (MWCNT).

1.3.1Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT)

The structure of SWCNT is similar to one atom thick layer of graphite called ―graphene into a
cylinder. It is represented by (n,m). Here n,m are the unit vectors in the two directions of the
hexagonal lattice of graphene . Its approximate diameter can be determined from the values of n
and m integers. These integers are responsible for the electronic characteristics of SWCNT. Its
band gap varies from zero to approximately two eV depending upon its structure. Its electrical

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conductivity depends upon the band gap. It is more widely used as compared to MWCNT’s. It
also has metallic and semiconductor properties.

single walled carbon nanotubes (swcnt)

1.3.2. Multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT)

Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) have structure similar to sheets of graphite’s
arranged in concentric cylinders . There are two models for understanding of MWCNT i.e.
Parchment model and Russian doll model. The Russian doll model is preferred over the
Parchment model. For example SWCNT having (0,8) unit vectors is placed within (0,17)
SWCNT. In Parchment model one sheet of graphite is rolled around itself. The distance between
interlayers is similar to distance between graphite layer which is around 3.52 Å.

multi walled carbon nanotubes (mwcnt)

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 1.4 CARBON NANOTUBE IN PHOTOVOLTAICS:

CNT’s have small diameter and high aspect ratio. Active molecules are of the order of few
nanometers. Therefore ready charge transfer across nanotubes and polymer based units takes
place. Diameter of SWCNT is in the range of 2 to 10 nm while that of MWCNT is in the range
of 5 to 10 nm i.e. well within the range of diameter upto 20 nm suggested for Organic
Photovoltaic devices . Both carbon nanotubes and polymers have π- conjugated system which
supports electron transfer from one π – orbital to another π – orbital. The corresponding materials
for CNT comes in a wide range namely oligomers , polymers , quantum dots and
semiconductors. Semiconductors may have bulk or nano structure. There are two approaches that
make CNT’s compatible with polymer solar cells. They are CNT and small molecule
combination and the other is CNT and polymer combination. The CNT complimentary element
serves the function of absorption of light . CNT is utilized to accept the electrons i.e. as electron
acceptor (with some exceptions).

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 II. METHOD AND IMPLEMENTATION OF TECHNIQUE

2.1 Arc Discharge Method

CNT production requires 3 elements,
1. Carbon feed.
2. Metal catalyst.
3. Heat the nanotubes were initially discovered using this technique; it has been the most
widely-used method of nanotube synthesis.
Two Graphite electrodes placed in an inert Helium atmosphere.
When DC current is passed anode is consumed and material forms on cathode.
For SWNT mixed metal catalyst is inserted into anode

Pure iron catalyst + Hydrogen-inert gas mixture gives 20 to 30cm long tube

2.2 Laser Ablation

In the laser ablation process, a pulsed laser vaporizes a graphite target in a
hightemperaturereactor while an inert gas is bled into the chamber.
Nanotubes develop on the cooler surfaces of the reactor as the vaporized carbon condenses.
A water-cooled surface may be included in the system to collect the nanotubes.
The laser ablation method yields around 70% and produces primarily single-walled

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carbon nanotubes with a controllable diameter determined by the reaction temperature.
It is more expensive than either arc discharge or chemical vapor deposition

2.3 Chemical Vapor Deposition (Cvd)

During CVD, a substrate is prepared with a layer of metal catalyst articles, most
commonly nickel, cobalt, iron, or a combination.
The diameters of the nanotubes that are to be grown are related to the size of the
metal particles.
The substrate is heated to approximately 700°c.
To initiate the growth of nanotubes, two gases are bled into the reactor: a process gas
(such as ammonia, nitrogen or hydrogen) and a carbon-containing gas (such as
acetylene, ethylene, ethanol or methane).
Nanotubes grow at the sites of the metal catalyst;
The carbon-containing gas is broken apart at the surface of the catalyst particle, and
the carbon is transported to the edges of the particle, where it forms the nanotubes.

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2.4Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes are produced by three main techniques;arc discharge, laser ablation and
chemical vapor deposition.Growth of CNTs by arc discharge and laser involvethe addition of
carbon dimers (C2) to the CNT edges.Sometime CNTs are also prepared by flame synthesis
using camphor or mesh like structure.
In the arc discharge process the atmosphere of inert gasor some carbon containing gas is created
by an arc discharge between two carbon electrodes with or withoutcatalyst. In the laser ablation
technique, a high power laserbeam impinges on a volume of carbon containing feedstock gas.
Laser ablation produces a small amount of clean nanotubes, whereas arc discharge method
generally produces large quantities of impure CNTs.
CVD results in MWNTs or poor quality SWNTs. TheSWNTs produced with CVD have a large
diameter range.

2.4.1Different Synthesis Techniques

In this method, under the inert atmosphere, carbon vapor iscreated by an arc discharge between
two carbon electrodes with or without catalyst. The arc discharge method initially used for
producing C60 fullerenes, is the mostcommon and easiest way to produce carbon nanotubes.

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However, these techniques produce a mixture of componentsand require splitting of nanotubes
from the soot andthe catalytic metals present in the basic product.
This method produces nanotubes through arc-vaporization by two carbon rods placed end to end
with distanceat approximately 1 mmand the chamber is usually filled withinert gas
(helium/argon) at low pressure (between 50 and700 mbar). In recent investigations, it is found
that productionof carbon nanotubes in liquid nitrogen, deionized water and NaCl solution are
also possible. A direct current of50–100 A driven by *20 V creates a high temperaturedischarge
of 2000–3000 _C between the two electrodes. The discharge vaporizes from one carbon rod and
deposited on the other rod. The yield of nanotubes depends on theuniformity of the plasma arc
and the temperature of the deposit form on the carbon electrode. Synthesis of CNTs by the
discharge method using different conditions.
The how the nanotubes wereformed by changing the surroundings of arc dischargechamber and
material used in the electrode. For high yieldand purity of CNTs, fullerenes etc. Y/N2 and CaC2
wereused under helium atmosphere. Carbon onions, MWNTand CNTs were prepared by using
the deionized water inliquid arc discharge method.

The nanotubes obtained during this process are usually short in range with the diameter ranging
from 0.6 to 1.4 nm for single walled and 10 –14 nm for diameter multi-walled nanotubes. These
tubes can be single walled tubes or multiple walled nanotubes, depending whether the catalyst is
placed in rod or not. This method is relatively easy to implement, and has yield of *30 %. The
nanotubes produced in such process having high impurity and large defects, in comparisons with
other method; and lengths of the tubes are somewhat random.

Both the single walled nanotubes and multi wallednanotubes created by this method are to be
decided by thesynthesis process followed by the doping of Ni/Co in anode which yields the
SWNT and the use of pure graphite rodwithout any doping yields the MWNT

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 Arc discharge method for synthesis of SWNT and MWNT
2.4.2 Laser Ablation Method
A standard laser ablation process occurs in a tubularfurnace in which a block of graphite mixed
with thecatalytic metals such as Ni, Co, Pt etc. is heated from 700to 1500 K. The graphite block
is then targeted with a highenergy laser and argon (Ar) gas is pumped in the direction of laser.
As laser ablates the target, carbon nanotubesare formed and carried by the gas flow into a cooled
copper collector. The mechanism for the formation of nanotube is same as the arc discharge in
which the laser will penetrate the targetmaterial and the vapor of carbon is created inside
thechamber which will grow on the cooled copper collector bygrowth mechanism. This process
may not be easilyimplemented, but high heating furnace is required for yield
up to 70 %.
The production of nanotubes by using different types of lasers with varied target materials and
atmosphere. Power and intensity of laser source cause the phenomenon of ablation which gives
CNTs of differentdiameters and lengths.
2.4.3 Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Method
A typical CVD process involves a substrate, which isexposed to one or more volatile precursors,
placed inquartz tube and heated to desired growth temperature.
Carbon carrying gas is flowing through the quartz tube withpredetermined flow rate and
temperature. After growthmechanism the furnace is slowly cooled down and the wafer is
inspected for the nanotube growth.the synthesis of CNTs by using different substrates in CVD
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chamber by the variation oftemperature and carbon containing gases in which the lowest growth
is found at 650 _C using CO2, but in thiscase the gas released is very toxic. To avoid the
formationof toxic gases, methane gas is used for this synthesis which easily gets hydrolyzed.
These techniques were firstly used for silicon substrateto grow single walled nanotubes. The
CVD process has also gained the popularity for pureSWNT growth
2.4.4 Precursor
Carbon containing compounds have been used as precursorsand the most common ones are:
carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4), acetylene (C2H2), benzene (C6H6),
toluene(C7H8), ethanol (C2H5OH), and methanol (CH3OH).
Each gas decomposes at different temperatures, cause togrow nanotube. Sometimes rate of
dissociation will becontrolled by the pressure of the gases such as CO, which will dissociate
more at high pressure and causes to increasethe yield of nanotubes. The flow rate causes growth
ofnanotubes; sometime larger nanotube will be formed at slow flow rate in comparison to higher
flow rate. Sometimescarbon precursor also produces unwanted nanotubes by premixed gas in the
cylinder, therefore, for producingwell aligned or well controlled nanotubes, a gas filter
orsometimes cleaning gas is used in the CVD chamber.
2.4.5 Electrical Properties of CNTs
Electrical property of carbon nanotube can be easilyunderstood from the band structure of
graphene. Byanalyzing the band structure by zone folding approximation we found that the
allowed k-points in the Brillouinzone are confined to parallel lines. The band structure ofthe
graphene gives an idea of finding the model of nanotubesand its electronic energies along the
allowed lines in which the subfigures (a) (b) and (c) represent the band structure of graphene, p-
type andn-type nanotubes respectively.

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Synthesis of Carbon Nanotube by Chemical Vapor with different gases on various types of
substrate

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The length and orientation of these lines are determined by the (n, m) pair of integers. Although
this approximation
also provides us many useful details about the electrical properties of carbon nanotubes and a
slight difference in the parameters can turn CNTs from metallic to semiconducting state.
Each graphite structure has carbon, which contains two 1s electron, one 2p electron and three sp2
electron. Thethree sp2 electrons form three bonds in the band at the plane of graphene sheet,
leaving an unsaturated p-orbital. This p-orbital, perpendicular to the graphene thus the nanotube
surface, forms a delocalized p-network across the nanotube responsible for the electronic
property. Armchair CNTs should show metallic behavior having band degeneracy between
highest p valance band to lowest p conduction band. The point at which these bands meet, is
known as Fermi level and a new type of CNT i.e. metallic nanotube is formed. The conduction of
metallic CNTs is ballistic and least sensitive towards gate voltage. Semiconducting nanotube
with small band gap is useful for transistor and sensor applications

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2.4.6 Chemical Properties of CNTs
According to band structure nanotubes are bonded according to sp2 hybridization so the pyram-
idalizationangle Hp is 0_. Hamon et al. and Niyogi et al. observed that the angle of
pyramidalization of a carbonatom is not 0_ but it is 11.6_ at the end caps, which is very close to
tetrahedral. But the angle of pyramidalization ofsidewalls of nanotube is 6_ due to this finite
value, thetubular nanotube introduces strain. p-orbitalmismatchs the strain present in nanotube .
The end cap has largereactivity because it has a large pyramidalization angle and low reactivity
for side walls due to low pyramidalizationangle.
Defect in nanotube may arise during the synthesis processdue to the presence of stone walls like
structural defectbuilds sp3 character on the hexagonal network oftubular nanostructures. Defects
will increase the reactivityof nanotubes thus the gases will adsorb on the surface sothe rate of
functionalization will be increased

3 Functionalization of CNTs

CNTs have inert surface property, but they are generally insoluble in solvent because of strong
Vander Wall interaction that tightly holds them together forming bundles.

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For many other applications, the solubility will increase by some modification called
functionalization. The functionalization method will be categorized into two following major
groups:
3.1 Inside Functionalization (Endohedral)

In this, nanoparticles of different materials are filled inside the nanotubes for functionalization,
which can be achieved by spontaneous penetration of exploiting the situation where nanotubes
are filled with colloidal suspensions. This process followed by the capillary action of the tubes;
or by wet chemistry, when the nanotubes are filled with some compounds, they will react at a
particular temperature and pressure after several circumstances resulting nanoparticle which are
trapped inside the nanotube
3.2 Chemical Functionalization From Outside (Exohedral)
This group can also be subdivided into three subgroups based on the mechanism of attachment in
which the different groups or compounds are attached to the sidewall of the nanotube:
(i) Covalent functionalization in which the functionalization group is attached either on the
defect side or at the end of the tubes
(ii) Covalent functionalization through ‘‘sidewall functionalization’’.
(iii) Non-covalent exohedral functionalization is the process in which the nanotubes are wrapped
inside the polymer the different methods for functionalizing nanotubes and their applications in
different field with various advantages and disadvantages. The sidewall functionalization with
cyclo and nucleophilic addition radical reactions is the best for solar cells.
4 CNT as a Solar Cell
In the present world most of the energy is produced by the fossil fuel, but they also produce very
dangerous andhazardous gases like carbon monoxide, which pollutes the environment every
second. Therefore for producing cleanenergy we use solar energy which is eco-friendly and
doesnot disturb the economical balance. For utilizing more and more solar energy, solar cells
may be fabricated whichconverts solar energy into the electrical energy and this electrical energy
may be stored in batteries throughcharging. Operation of a solar cell depends on following
factors:
• Absorption of light to create electron–hole pairs.
• Diffusion of charge carriers.
• Separation of electron and hole.

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• Collection of charge carriers

4.1 Efficiency
The efficiency of solar cells is categorized in different classes like thermodynamic efficiency, reflectance efficiency,
charge carrier separation efficiency and reflectance efficiency. The overall efficiency of solar cells is the product of
all these individual efficiencies. The solar cells usually have a high voltage dependent efficiency curves, temperature
coefficients and shadow angles. Due to difficulty in measuring these parameters directly, we use the ratio of powers
to measure the efficiency of solar cell.
Solar cell efficiency (P) is defined as the ratio of output power to the input power

5 Mechanism of Solar Cell

The working of solar cells is based on the transition of free electrons by gaining the extra energy
when photonsare incident at the film surface. Now, after analyzing theband structure of the solar
cell, Bu Jong et al. found thatcell gains energy from the photons and generates free electrons,
which recombines and generates some photovoltaic current so the binding energy of the film
willdecrease which indicates that the maximum number of electrons are generated. Therefore, for
increasing theefficiency of solar cell, thin film based method is used in which large amount of
light is absorbed for a broaderrange of the solar spectrum. Theory of solar cell isdefined in
following steps:
(1) Photons in sunlight strike the solar panel and are absorbed by semiconducting materials, such
assilicon and germanium.
(2) Electrons (negative charged) are excited from their current molecular/atomic orbitals. Once
excited, theelectron can either dissipate the energy or return to its orbital or travel through the
cell until it reaches anelectrode. Current starts flowing through the material to cancel the
potential and this electricity is captured.
Due to the special composition of solar cells, theelectrons are only allowed to move in a single
direction.
(3) An array of solar cells converts solar energy into ausable amount of direct current (DC)
electricity.On analyzing those solar cells, it was found that theefficiency had increased by a little
amount. Therefore, forfurther increasing the efficiency of solar cell, carbon nanotubeswere used
in these cells which acts as a p-typesemiconductor and silica acts as n-type semiconductor
andthus hetro-junctions were formed between silica and

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SWNT.
we analyze that the CNTs act as p-type semiconductor and silica based materials act as n-type
semiconductor so the transition of electrons and holes start when hetero-junction would be
formed establishinga certain band-gap between them. After emerging the light on such cell the
holes gain energy and transferelectrons from silica to CNT thus generating the
photovoltaiccurrent which is stored in the battery. After analyzing SWNT, it was found that the
absorption powerwas increased on replacing the SWNT to poly chiralMWNT. The MWNT
absorbed a broad range offrequency spectrum in comparison with all other solar cells.

Diagram showing the variation of band structure of CNT based solar cell
6 Thin Film Based Solar Cell
Thin film technique reduces the amount of material required for creating solar cells and most of
the thin filmbased solar cells are manufactured by the sandwiching of thin film between two
panes of glass to make a module.Cost comparison for per unit power production between fossil
fuel combustion and silicon solar cells was found toyield a large difference. The main
component of these cellsis a thin material coating. Fabrication of these solar cells requires a very
low quantity of material (compared to siliconwafers, it is only 1 %). This is the main reason why
this technology is cheaper to some extent. The majority of this type of cells is made from
amorphous silicon that isdevoid of a crystalline structure. These are much cheaper fabricators,
but have a very low efficiency of about 8 %.Incorporation of nanomaterials into thin-film solar
cellsenhances conversion efficiency at a lesser cost. Now-adays,many nanomaterials are
investigated for photovoltaicapplications. The following are the three benefits of using
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nano-structured layers in thin-film solar cells:
(a) The effective optical absorption path becomes largerthan actual film thickness because of
multiplereflections.
(b) There is a reduction in recombination losses due to the shorter path followed by light-
generated electronsand holes. The absorber layer thickness in traditionalthin-film solar cells is in
lm, while in nano-structuredsolar cells it can be as thin as 150 nm.
(c) Energy band gap of different layers, made for desireddesign value, uses nanoparticles of
various sizes. Thisallows more design flexibility in the absorber andwindow layers of the solar
cells. ‘Al’ and ‘W’ are usedas dopants for enhancing photovoltaic properties, Aldopedtitanium
dioxide and electrodes increase opencircuit voltage (Voc), but reduce short-circuit current
(Isc)the efficiency of synthesis techniqueswith advantages and disadvantages of different types
of solar cells. It can be seen that the efficiency of solar cell increases on incorporating the carbon
nanotubes inside thecell. Bu-jong et al. had fabricated new solar cell by using
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) which is twice efficient forconverting sunlight into electrical power
than the previous one.
The other carbon nanomaterials like fullerene and grapheme can also be used for the fabrication
of solar cell asthey show the photovoltaic properties by enhancing the absorption range.

R.G. Shrestha et al. synthesized onedimensional(1D) single-crystalline fullerene C60 nanorods

by using ultrarapid interfacial formation method at room temperature. The nanorods were of *11
lm in lengthand *215 nm in diameter with hexagonal close-packed crystal structure. The optical
transitions revealed thedominance of charge transfer excitonic transitions with excellent charge
transfer characteristic. In another work, L.K. Shrestha et al. reported the surfactant-
triggeredassembly of fullerene (C60) into 3D flower-like microcrystals at the liquid–liquid
interface following the growthof crystals using a liquid–liquid interfacial precipitation(LLIP)
method by layering surfactant solution. These microcrystals have a better future scope in solar
cell based
opto-electronic devices. In another work, hesynthesized macroporous and mesoporous fullerene
crystalswith bimodal pore architectures using the same (LLIP)method which can be used for the
fabrication of nanodevicesincluding organic solar cells.

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Graphene is different from most 3-d materials. Intrinsic graphene is known to be a zero-gap
semiconductor or asemi-metal. It has very high electron mobility, almost twotimes than that of Si
thereby making it highly conducting.As well, since it causes a direct band gap, thus can
absorbmore photons in a much thinner region as compared to indirect band gap semiconductors
like Si. Graphene, havingspecial optical properties, can be applied as transparentelectrodes and
interconnects the two sub cells in tandemsolar cells. It is a carbon sheet of one atom thickness,
consisting of condensed six member rings. The carbon atoms are sp2 bonded and form a
hexagonal 2D lattice. Ideal graphene has a very high carrier mobility of the order of 105
cm2/(V–s) at room temperature. This exceeds thecarrier mobility of Silicon by one or two orders
suggestingthat graphene can be used as a replacement for Silicon in nano-electronics. Besides its
exceptional electrical properties,it has very high mechanical durability. Graphenealso has a
tunable bandgap. 3D graphene is known asgraphite. It is the thinnest material with highest
strength; itis also highly transparent & highly conducting. This makesgraphene an attractive
option to form transparent electrodesin solar cells

Fabrication of solar cell using carbon nanotube

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Development of solar cells by various methods

Thin-film photovoltaic materials are better than conventionalsolar-cell materials (such as silicon)
because they
are lighter, more flexible and cheaper to fabricate; workingof these cells is based on the principle
in which they absorbphotons from sunlight and convert them into electron–hole pairs (or
excitons). To generate electric current, an electronand hole must be rapidly separated before the
two particleshave a chance to come back together and be reabsorbedinto the material. In solar
cells, the exciton must quickly travel to another layer in the device (where the chargeseparation
will occur) for the best light-absorption efficiencies.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are ideal forthin-film photovoltaic material, as they
absorb light across

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a wide range of wavelengths from the visible to the nearinfraredand possess charge carriers
(electrons and holes)that move quickly. However, most thin-film cellscontaining SWCNTs have
so far suffered from limited current and voltage, and therefore poor power-conversionefficiencies

Maximum Open Circuit Voltage

The band gap of semiconducting carbon nanotubes is related to the nanotube’s diameter d
through

wherey0~2:45eV is the nearest-neighbour overlap integral andaCC is the carbon-carbon distance.

Note that the bandgap of semiconducting nanotubes does not depend on the chiral angle. The
band gap for a 1.5 nm nanotube, the average diameter of our nanotube material, therefore
amounts to *500meV. Theband diagram is drawn in figure 1d. The ‘work function’ of
theelectrolyte is We~4:85eV [37], while the work function for carbon nanotubes is WNT~4:5eV
[36]. We therefore expect the maximumattainable open circuit voltage Vmax
OC *200{290 mV , where therange indicates variations due to the diameter. We observe
amaximum voltage of*200mV. This is expected as nanotubes with a slightly smaller band gap
will ‘short out’ the effect of nanotubeswith a slightly larger bandgap.

III. APPLICATIONS

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3.1 Electronic Applications of Carbon Nanotubes
Because nanotubes exhibit many interesting electronic properties, a wide range of electronic
applications have been proposed and investigated. Various prototype deviceshave been
demonstrated with excellent, commercially-competitive properties.

3.2 Conductive Composites

Because of their extreme aspect ratios, nanotubes can form conductive percolationnetworks at
very small volume fractions. By embedding nanotubes into a polymer matrix,antistatic and
electrically conductive plastics are readily produced. In fact, such productsare the earliest known
commercial applications of carbon nanotubes. The volume fractionof nanotubes can be as small
as 0.1% allowing the intrinsic properties of the matrix, whichmight include transparency,
flexibility, and strength, to be retained. At still higherdensities, the nanotubes can also begin to
tailor the matrix’s mechanical properties.When not confined within a matrix, conductive
nanotube films exhibit large surface areasand significant mechanical flexibility. These properties
enable electrochemical andelectromechanical applications. For example, nanotube
“supercapacitors” exhibit verylarge capacitances for their size, because even a compressed
nanotube film remains porousto most electrolytes. A nanotube electrode with a macroscopic area
A has an effectivesurface area hundreds of times larger than A and exhibits capacitances
exceeding 100Farads per gram of nanotube material. Furthermore, nanotube supercapacitors can
chargeand discharge at power rates of 20 –30 W per gram, sufficient for high power applications
such as hybrid-electric vehicles. The chemical inertness of nanotubes is critical to this type of
application: nanotubes do not readily degrade with repeated cycling the way that otherhigh-
surfacearea materials do. Of course, some electrolytes are more chemically activethan others,
and the application of nanotubes to lithium ion storage has been hampered bylarge, irreversible
capacitances. Nevertheless, nearly all lithium ion batteries manufacturedtoday include a small
percentage of lifetime-enhancing carbon nanotubes. Bothcapacitative and chemical energy
storage using nanotube electrodes remain active researchtopics, with products successfully
deployed in both areas. However, these applications arequite sensitive to the high costs of
nanotube materials and will benefit from ongoingresearch in bulk nanotube synthesis.

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3.3 Electron Emitters
As chemically inert wires with high aspect ratios, carbon nanotubes exhibit all of the properties
desired in a good field emitter. Both SWNTs and MWNTs exhibit emission atlow threshold
electric fields of 1 to 2 V/μm, indicating that their sharp tips geometricallyenhance local electric
fields by factors of 1000 or more. The tolerance of nanotubes forextraordinary current densities
further allows these emitters to operate at high powerdensities.
Individual field emitters constitute a small commercial market, but arrays of emitters can be used
for general lighting, flat panel displays, and high power electronics. In each ofthese applications,
the nanotube emission exceeds the minimum performancespecifications to be competitive; the
primary barriers to commercialization involve otherissues such as fabrication, compatibility, and
product complexity. In lighting, these barriersare relatively small and high-brightness, high-
efficiency lighting products exist.
Alternately, flat panel displays are highly complex products with interrelated
technical,economic, and practical specifications. Display technologies demand thousands of
identical pixels, a stringent requirement on emitter variability. In this field, multipleemonstration
prototypes by companies including Samsung and Motorola have not yetresulted in consumer
products.
Field emission is intrinsically a nondissipative, energy-efficient tunneling process. Emission
devices are therefore useful in a variety of high power density applications, suchas the frequency
modulation of very large currents or surge protection for power andtelecommunications
substations. In the past, potential power devices such as these have been severely limited by the
available field emission materials, and nanotubes have madenew performance levels possible.

3.4 Application of carbon nanotubes in perovskite solar cells

Solar power, as alternative renewable energy source, has gained momentum in global energy
generation in recent time. Solar photovoltaics (PV) systems now fulfill a significant portion of
electricity demand and the capacity of solar PV capacity is growing every year. PV cells
efficiency has improved significantly following decades of research, evolving into third
generations of PV cells. These third generation PV cells are set out to provide low-cost and
efficient PV systems, further improving the commercial competitiveness of solar energy
generation. Among these latest generations of PV cells, perovskite solar cells have gained

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attraction due to the simple manufacturing process and the immense growth in PV efficiency in a
short period of research and development. Despite these advantages, perovskite solar cells are
known for the weak stability and decomposition in exposure to humidity and high temperature,
hindering the possibility of commercialization. This paper will discuss the role of carbon
nanotubes (CNTs) in improving the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells, in various
components such as perovskite layer and hole transport layer, as well as the application of CNTs
in unique aspects. These includes the use of CNTs fiber in making the perovskite solar cells
flexible, as well as simplification of perovskite PV production by using CNT flash evaporation
printing process. Despite these advances, challenges remain in incorporation CNTs into
perovskite such as lower conversion efficiency compared to rare earth metals and improvements
need to be made. Thus, the paper will be also highlighting the CNTs materials suggested for
further research and improvement of perovskite solar cells.

Electrodes made from carbon nanotubes grown on graphene with very high surface area and
very low electrical resistance. The researchers first grow graphene on a metal substrate then
grow carbon nanotubes on the graphene sheet. Because the base of each nanotube is bonded,
atom to atom, to the graphene sheet the nanotube-graphene structure is essentially one molecule
with a huge surface area.

aligned carbon nanotubes on a substratefor use as the anode, and possibly the cathode, in a
lithium ion battery. The carbon nanotubes have organic molecules attached that help the
nanotubes align on the substrate, as well as provide many oxygen atoms that provide points for
lithium ions to attach to. This could increase the power density of lithium ion batteries
significantly, perhaps by as much as 10 times. A battery manufacturer called Contour Systems
has licensed this technology and are planning to use it in their next generation Li-ion batteries.

solar cell that uses graphene as a electrode while using buckyballs and carbon nanotubes to
absorb light and generate electrons. This process produces a solar cell composed only of
carbon. The intent is to eliminate the need for higher cost materials and the complicated
manufacturing techniques required to build conventional solar cells.

developing a cathode using carbon nanotubes for use in fuel cells or batteries used to power
medical implants.

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carbon nanotubes mixed with carbon black particles in one layer of a five layer battery that can
be painted on a wide range of types of surfaces.

Carbon nanotubes can perform as a catalyst in a fuel cell, avoiding the use of expensive platinum
on which most catalysts are based. Researchers have found that incorporating nitrogen and iron
atoms into the carbon lattice of nanotubes results in nanotubes with catalytic properties.

Combining carbon nanotubes and buckyballs to produce solar cells. Some researchers combine
the nanotubes and Bucky balls with a polymer,

3.5 Carbon nanotube composites in the photoactive layer

Combining the physical and chemical characteristics of conjugated polymers with the high
conductivity along the tube axis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) provides a great deal of incentive
to disperse CNTs into the photoactive layer in order to obtain more efficient OPV devices. The
interpenetrating bulk donor–acceptor heterojunction in these devices can achieve charge
separation and collection because of the existence of a bicontinuous network. Along this
network, electrons and holes can travel toward their respective contacts through the electron
acceptor and the polymer hole donor. Photovoltaic efficiency enhancement is proposed to be due
to the introduction of internal polymer/nanotube junctions within the polymer matrix. The high
electric field at these junctions can split up the excitons, while the single-walled carbon nanotube
(SWCNT) can act as a pathway for the electrons.

The dispersion of CNTs in a solution of an electron donating conjugated polymer is perhaps the
most common strategy to implement CNT materials into OPVs. Generally poly(3-
hexylthiophene) (P3HT) or poly(3-octylthiophene) (P3OT) are used for this purpose. These
blends are then spin coated onto a transparent conductive electrode with thicknesses that vary
from 60 to 120 nm. These conductive electrodes are usually glass covered with indium tin
oxide (ITO) and a 40 nm sublayer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)
and poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS). PEDOT and PSS help to smooth the ITO surface, decreasing
the density of pinholes and stifling current leakage that occurs along shunting paths. Through
thermal evaporation or sputter coating, a 20 to 70 nm thick layer of aluminum and sometimes an
intermediate layer of lithium fluoride are then applied onto the photoactive material. Multiple

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research investigations with both multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and single-walled
carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) integrated into the photoactive material have been completed

Enhancements of more than two orders of magnitude have been observed in the photocurrent
from adding SWCNTs to the P3OT matrix.[8] Improvements were speculated to be due to charge
separation at polymer–SWCNT connections and more efficient electron transport through the
SWCNTs. However, a rather low power conversion efficiency of 0.04% under
100 mW/cm2 white illumination was observed for the device suggesting incomplete exciton
dissociation at low CNT concentrations of 1.0% wt. Because the lengths of the SWCNTs were
similar to the thickness of photovoltaic films, doping a higher percentage of SWCNTs into the
polymer matrix was believed to cause short circuits. To supply additional dissociation sites, other
researchers have physically blended functionalized MWCNTs into P3HT polymer to create a
P3HT-MWCNT with fullerene C60 double-layered device.[14]However, the power efficiency was
still relatively low at 0.01% under 100 mW/cm2 white illumination. Weak exciton diffusion
toward the donor–acceptor interface in the bilayer structure may have been the cause in addition
to the fullerene C60 layer possibly experiencing poor electron transport.

More recently, a polymer photovoltaic device from C60-modified SWCNTs and P3HT has been
fabricated.Microwave irradiating a mixture of aqueous SWCNT solution and C60solution
in toluene was the first step in making these polymer-SWCNT composites. Conjugated polymer
P3HT was then added resulting in a power conversion efficiency of 0.57% under simulated solar
irradiation (95 mW/cm2). It was concluded that improved short circuit current density was a
direct result of the addition of SWCNTs into the composite causing faster electron transport via
the network of SWCNTs. It was also concluded that the morphology change led to an improved
fill factor. Overall, the main result was improved power conversion efficiency with the addition
of SWCNTs, compared to cells without SWCNTs; however, further optimization was thought to
be possible.

Additionally, it has been found that heating to the point beyond the glass transition temperature
of either P3HT or P3OT after construction can be beneficial for manipulating the phase
separation of the blend. This heating also affects the ordering of the polymeric chains because
the polymers are microcrystalline systems and it improves charge transfer, charge transport, and

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charge collection throughout the OPV device. The hole mobility and power efficiency of the
polymer-CNT device also increased significantly as a result of this ordering

Emerging as another valuable approach for deposition, the use of tetraoctylammonium

bromide in tetrahydrofuran has also been the subject of investigation to assist in suspension by
exposing SWCNTs to an electrophoretic field.[17] In fact, photoconversion efficiencies of 1.5%
and 1.3% were achieved when SWCNTs were deposited in combination with light
harvesting cadmium sulfide (CdS) quantum dots and porphyrins, respectively.

Among the best power conversions achieved to date using CNTs were obtained by depositing a
SWCNT layer between the ITO and the PEDOT : PSS or between the PEDOT : PSS and the
photoactive blend in a modified ITO/PEDOT : PSS/ P3HT : (6,6)-phenyl-C61-butyric acid
methyl ester (PCBM)/Al solar cell. By dip-coating from a hydrophilic suspension, SWCNT were
deposited after an initially exposing the surface to an argon plasma to achieve a power
conversion efficiency of 4.9%, compared to 4% without CNTs.

However, even though CNTs have shown potential in the photoactive layer, they have not
resulted in a solar cell with a power conversion efficiency greater than the best tandem organic
cells (6.5% efficiency).

But, it has been shown in most of the previous investigations that the control over a uniform
blending of the electron donating conjugated polymer and the electron accepting CNT is one of
the most difficult as well as crucial aspects in creating efficient photocurrent collection in CNT-
based OPV devices. Therefore, using CNTs in the photoactive layer of OPV devices is still in the
initial research stages and there is still room for novel methods to better take advantage of the
beneficial properties of CNTs.

One issue with utilizing SWCNTs for the photoactive layer of PV devices is the mixed purity
when synthesized (about 1/3 metallic and 2/3 semiconducting). Metallic SWCNTs (m-SWCNTs)
can cause exciton recombination between the electron and hole pairs, and the junction between
metallic and semiconducting SWCNTs (s-SWCNTs) form Schottky barriers that reduce the hole
transmission probability.The discrepancy in electronic structure of synthesized CNTs requires
electronic sorting to separate and remove the m-SWCNTs to optimize the semiconducting
performance. This may be accomplished through diameter and electronic sorting of CNTs

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through a density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) process, involving a gradient of surfactants
that can separate the CNTs by diameter, chirality, and electronic type.This sorting method
enables the separation of m-SWCNTs and the precise collection of multiple chiralities of s-
SWCNTs, each chirality able to absorb a unique wavelength of light. The multiple chiralities of
s-SWCNTs are used as the hole transport material along with the fullerene component PC71BM
to fabricate heterojunctions for the PV active layer.Thepolychiral s-SWCNTs enable a wide
range optical absorption from visible to near-infrared (NIR) light, increasing the photo current
relative to using single chirality nanotubes. To maximize light absorption, the inverted device
structure was used with a zinc oxide nanowire layer penetrating the active layer to minimize
collection length. Molybdenum oxide (MoOx) was utilized as a high work function hole
transport layer to maximize voltage

3.6 CNTs in dye-sensitized solar cells

Due to the simple fabrication process, low production cost, and high efficiency, there is
significant interest in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Thus, improving DSSC efficiency has
been the subject of a variety of research investigations because it has the potential to be
manufactured economically enough to compete with other solar cell technologies. Titanium
dioxide nanoparticles have been widely used as a working electrode for DSSCs because they
provide a high efficiency, more than any other metal oxide semiconductor investigated.[33] Yet
the highest conversion efficiency under air mass (AM) 1.5 (100 mW/cm2) irradiation reported for
this device to date is about 11%.Despite this initial success, the effort to further enhance
efficiency has not produced any major results.The transport of electrons across the particle
network has been a key problem in achieving higher photoconversion efficiency in
nanostructured electrodes. Because electrons encounter many grain boundaries during the transit
and experience a random path, the probability of their recombination with oxidized sensitizer is
increased.Therefore, it is not adequate to enlarge the oxide electrode surface area to increase
efficiency because photo-generated charge recombination should be prevented. Promoting
electron transfer through film electrodes and blocking interface states lying below the edge of the
conduction band are some of the non-CNT based strategies to enhance efficiency that have been
employed.

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With recent progress in CNT development and fabrication, there is promise to use various CNT
based nanocomposites and nanostructures to direct the flow of photogenerated electrons and
assist in charge injection and extraction. To assist the electron transport to the collecting
electrode surface in a DSSC, a popular concept is to utilize CNT networks as support to anchor
light harvesting semiconductor particles. Research efforts along these lines include organizing
CdS quantum dots on SWCNTs.Charge injection from excited CdS into SWCNTs was
documented upon excitation of CdS nanoparticles. Other varieties of semiconductor particles
including CdSe and CdTe can induce charge-transfer processes under visible light irradiation
when attached to CNTs.Including porphyrin and C60 fullerene, organization of photoactive donor
polymer and acceptor fullerene on electrode surfaces has also been shown to offer considerable
improvement in the photoconversion efficiency of solar cells.Therefore, there is an opportunity
to facilitate electron transport and increase the photoconversion efficiency of DSSCs utilizing the
electron-accepting ability of semiconducting SWCNTs.

Cells fabricated with this architecture have achieved record power conversion efficiencies of
3.1%, higher than any other solar cell materials that utilize CNTs in the active layer. This design
also has exceptionally stability, with the PCE remaining at around 90% over a period of 30
days.The exceptional chemical stability of carbon nanomaterials enables excellent environmental
stability compared to most organic photovoltaics that must be encapsulated to reduce
degradation.

Relative to the best of polymer-fullerene heterojunction solar cells that have PCEs of about
10%, polychiral nanotube and fullerene solar cells are still a far ways off. Nevertheless, these
findings push the achievable limits of CNT technology in solar cells. The ability for polychiral
nanotubes to absorb in the NIR regime is a technology that can be utilized to improve the
efficiencies of future of multi-junction tandem solar cells along with increasing the lifetime and
durability of future non-crystalline solar cells.

3.7CARBON NANO TUBES AS TRANSPARENT ELECTRODES

CNTs possess several properties like low resistivity, high specular transmittance broad range
from UV to MIR .It has superior flexibility .They can exist in sheets i.e. Bucky paper.
The 3-D topology mesh like circuit allows charge flow across large area and not to
plannerinterface only. They have high thermal conductivity that helps in heat dissipation .they

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are also stable on application of light to their surface. They posses high electron mobility which
suggests its application in hole extraction layer. They have high work function(4.8 to 4.9eV)that
make them suitable for hole transportation unlike ITO which are unstable in presence ofacids and
bases.
SWCNT films exhibits a high optical transparency in broad spectral range from visible to near
infrared range . However the electric sheet resistance of ITO is lower than that ofSWCNTs. But
the efficiency of SWCNT is of order 1% to 2.5% that is comparable to ITObased devices. Hence,
the advancements may help in developing CNT based transparentelectrodes exceeds the results
obtained from ITO materials.

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 IV. ADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES OF USING CNT IN A SOLAR PANEL

 The efficiency of the system can be improved.

 As the CNT solar panels use infrared rays including visible range of sunlight, they can work at
night times.

 They remain stable at ambience temperature about 1600 F.

 The amount of the material to be used for the construction will also be reduced.

 As the mobility of the electrons is more in the case of the CNT the output voltage produced is
drastically increased.

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 V. CONCLUSION

It is a brief review of CNT applications in photovoltaics and the design development of future
generation’s solar cells. CNTs support better sunlight absorption and they also generatephoto
carriers. It involves transfer of electrons and holes which is a good property in the caseof
photovoltaics. They have low cost of manufacturing. But the efficiency of CNT based solarcells
is far behind that of conventional cells, problems lies with the donor-accepter materialtherwise
CNT conducting based polymer hybrid solar cells would be cheaper. On the otherhand electrode
CNTs are very promising due to good conducting property and low resistivity.
They also possess high flexibility.A brief review on current studies using CNTs in conducting
polymer-based solar cellshas been undertaken. These cells are of interest to develop future
generation solar cells. CN s are excellent materials for unlight absorption and to generate photo
carriers. CNTs have theability to separate carriers as they can form heterojunctions with
conducting polymers. Inaddition, CNTs can transfer electrons or holes efficiently and exhibit
good PV properties. Though the efficiency of polymer solar cells is limited to a few percent,
much lower than theSi-based solar cells, the commercial value of the polymer cells will be
driven due to their lowcostfabrication and diverse deployment opportunities. The
CNT/conducting polymer-basedhybrid solar cells are still far behind other solar cell
technologies. In terms of cost theCNT/conducting polymer-based hybrid solar cells would be
much cheaper. However, theproblem lies in the donor-acceptor material of polymer. The
inherent problem of the conductingpolymer seems to be the main constraint for the development
of these solar cells.The Advancement in current solar technology opens the gate of complexities
involvein solar power. It has many positive applications, including the advancement of the solar
energyindustry, decrement in cost and increment in efficiency. The addition of 3rd
generationtechnology to the solar industry is one possible way to end energy crisis. With
affordable, efficient, environmentally friendly energy available and the effect of global warming
can be reduced. Yet, there is a need of consistence research for obtaining the desired result.
These outstanding contributions on each specific stage, such assynthesis, functionalization,
purification, processing and devicepreparation, are a strong indication that science and
technologyprovide a strong opportunity for the integration of CNT-based organic thin films in
the next generation of OPV cells. Still,current research should be aimed to understand the
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structure–property relationships beginning from the molecular structure, through the
microdomain organization, to the final devicearchitecture. This multidisciplinary approach
should start bydeveloping refined theoretical models able to correlate the electronic properties
and the morphology of CNTs with the merits ofOPV devices. In this regard, simple and reliable
computationalmodels able to correlate chirality,diameter, and length of CNTs47,282 with current
and voltage characteristics of a photoactivenanocomposite are an important feedback for the
optimizationof PCE.
Given these considerations, the growth of CNTs should require smaller amounts of metal
catalysts while improving thecontrol on chirality and length of the tubes. In the subsequentsteps,
industrially relevant aspects (i.e., continuous processes, use of low cost and nonflammable
solvents, scalability, etc.) shouldbe integrated in a multi-step purification procedure able to
affordCNTs with the desired parameters. Actually, this aspect is faced through the design of
chemical and physical methods showingpreferential affinity for CNTs with specific chirality,
thusenabling the separation of semiconducting and metallic tubes. Nevertheless, increasing
efforts should be addressed to fill thegap between the small quantities required by academic
researchers and the large amount of continuously processed
CNTs needed for practical applications. In this respect, chemical modifications by means of
covalent or non-covalent functionalizationshave been extensively employed for the purification
andseparation of CNTs. Moreover, chemical post-processing is an attractive solution to tune the
physical properties of the CNTseither by tuning the band-gap by p- and n-doping or by
exploiting the interaction with photoactive dyes complementary to the prominent UV and IR
absorption of CNTs. Even moreinterestingly, chemical processing is the gateway between the
electronic characteristics of the individual nanotubes and their interaction with
photoelectroactive matrices at a macroscopicscale. Covalent modification and supramolecular
interactionsoffer the required solubility, stability, and versatility to engineerthe electronic
communication at the D/A interfaces and ultimatelyto improve the PCE of BHJ OPV cells
througha controlled processing. Indeed, conveniently functionalized.
CNTs can be processed using lower boiling point solvents, thus allowing for low-cost mass-
production, either by ink-jet printingor by different coating techniques from solution.
With this perspective, the employment of structurally versatileCNTs would have a major impact
on OPV technology particularlythanks to the scaling-up of a variety of deposition and

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patterning methods available today.
Once these constrains are solved, future applications would firstinvolve a niche market including
low-power and short-termdevices and then a larger market including low-power, longertermand
portable devices. Indeed, applications could include selfpowereddevices for both indoor and
outdoor uses in fields like
‘‘portable energy’’ for electronic devices (e.g., cell phones, smart phones, portable audio/video
players, sensors, digital camerasand camcorders), building integrated photovoltaics and rooftops
(e.g., commercial buildings, industrial plants, government,academic institutions), residential
photovoltaics (grid-tied andoff-grid homes) and automotive (e.g., car standby power supply,
starting, lighting, and ignition car battery sustaining systems).

There is much about carbon nanotubes that is still unknown. There is also much work to bedone
towards cheaper mass-production and incorporation with other materials before many of the
current applications being researched can be commercialized.
Nanotechnology is predicted to spark a series of industrial revolutions in the next twodecades
that will transform our lives to a far greater extent than silicon microelectronics did inthe 20th
century. Carbon nanotubes could play a pivotal role in this upcoming revolution iftheir
remarkable structural, electrical and mechanical properties can be exploited.The remarkable
properties of carbon nanotubes may allow them to play a crucial role in therelentless drive
towards miniaturization scale.Lack of commercially feasible synthesis and purification methods
is the main reason thatcarbon nanotubes are still not widely used nowadays. At the moment,
nanotubes are tooexpensive and cannot be produced selectively. Some of the already known and
upcomingtechniques look promising for economically feasible production of purified carbon
nanotubes.Some future applications of carbon nanotubes look very promising. All we need are
betterproduction technique for large amounts of purified nanotubes that have to be found in the
nearfuture. Nanotube promises to open up a way to new applications that might be cheaper,
lower in weight and have a better efficiency.

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 REFERENCES

1. Shaheen S. Ginley, D. Jabbour G., “Organic-Based Photovoltaics: Towards Low-Cost

Power Generation” MRS Bulletin 30, 10-15, 2005.

2. Hoppe, Sariciftci. “Organic Solar Cells: An Overview” J. Mat. Res. 19 (7) 1924-45, 2004.

3. Sariciftci et al. “Polymer–Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells.” MRS Bulletin 30, 33-
6, 2005.

4. Raffaelle, R.P. et al. “Carbon Nanotubes for Power Applications.” Materials Science and
Engineering B
116 233–243, 2005.

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