The effect of dry shear aligning of nanotube thin films on the photovoltaic performance of carbon nanotube–silicon solar cells

• Benedikt W. Stolz,
• Daniel D. Tune and
• Benjamin S. Flavel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1486–1491, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.141

• aligned parallel to the surface. The recently developed process of dry shear aligning – in which shear force is applied to the surface of carbon nanotube thin films in the dry state, has been shown to yield nanotube films that are very flat and in which the surface nanotubes are very well aligned in the

• direction of shear. It is thus reasonable to expect that nanotube films subjected to dry shear aligning should outperform otherwise identical films formed by other processes. In this work, the fabrication and characterisation of carbon nanotube–silicon solar cells using such films is reported, and the

• photovoltaic performance of devices produced with and without dry shear aligning is compared. Keywords: absorbance; carbon nanotubes; current-voltage; dry shear aligning; order parameter; Introduction During the last decade or so, the potential benefits of using carbon nanotubes in solar cells has been