7 - Graphene-based nanomaterials for solar cells

Abstract

Climate change and other environmental concerns have greatly escalated the demand for the development of alternative renewable energy technologies. Among various available resources, solar energy is the cleanest, most abundant, and most inexhaustible renewable energy resource so far. The huge amount of solar power is directly converted to consumable energy form through advanced photovoltaic technologies, including solar cells. Recently, graphene has had profound impact on the development of solar cell technologies, due to its unique, atomically thick, 2D structure and outstanding physicochemical properties. In particular, due to its excellent electronic properties such as fast electron mobility and high conductivity, graphene has immensely contributed to the development of various types of solar cells, including dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) and organic, heterojunction, and perovskite-based solar cells. The novel optoelectronic properties of graphene can be further enhanced by incorporating various materials including inorganic nanoparticles, polymers, and other semiconducting materials to obtain a wide variety of graphene-based functional materials. In this chapter, we extensively discuss the role of graphene-based materials in the current development of solar cells. Additionally, attention has been given to the synthesis of graphene and graphene-based materials. Also, the application and role of graphene-based materials in different types of solar cells have been specifically discussed in much detail. Overall, by the inclusion of various references, this chapter precisely covers the important aspects of graphene-based materials in solar cells.