High‐Efficiency Large‐Area Carbon Nanotube‐Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

Currently studied carbon nanotube‐silicon (CNT‐Si) solar cells are based on relatively small active areas (typically <0.15 cm2); increasing the active area generally leads to reduced power conversion efficiencies. This study reports CNT‐Si solar cells with active areas of more than 2 cm2 for single cells, yet still achieving cell efficiencies of about 10%, which is the first time for CNT‐Si solar cells with an active area more than 1 cm2 to reach the level for real applications. In this work, a controlled number of flattened highly conductive CNT strips is added, in simple arrangement, to form a CNT‐Si solar cell with CNT strips in which the middle film makes heterojunctions with Si while the top strips act as self‐similar top electrodes, like conventional metal grids. The CNT strips, directly condensed from as‐grown CNT films, not only improve the CNT‐Si junctions, but also enhance the conductivity of top electrodes without introducing contact barrier when the CNT strips are added onto the film. This property may facilitate the development of large‐area high‐performance CNT or graphene‐Si solar cells.