Less severe processing improves carbon nanotube photovoltaic performance
Abstract
Thin film semiconducting single walled carbon nanotube (s-SWCNT) photovoltaics suffer losses due to trapping and quenching of excitons by defects induced when dispersing s-SWCNTs into solution. We study these aspects by preparing photovoltaic devices from (6,5) carbon nanotubes isolated by different processes: extended ultrasonication, brief ultrasonication, and shear force mixing. Peak quantum efficiency increases from 28% to 38% to 49% as the processing harshness decreases and is attributed to both increasing s-SWCNT length and reducing sidewall defects. Fill-factor and open-circuit voltage also improve with shear force mixing, highlighting the importance of obtaining long, defect-free s-SWCNTs for efficient photoconversion devices.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.5026853
Entities
People
- Jessica T Flach
- Jialiang Wang
- Martin T. Zanni
- Matthew J. Shea
- Michael S Arnold
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Army Research Office
- University of Wisconsin–Madison