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Carbon Single Wall Nanotubes: Low Barrier, Cu- Free Back Contact to CdTe Based Solar Cells

Khanal, Rajendra R
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1396625969

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Carbon single wall nanotubes (SWNTs) are hollow cylinders of graphene. They have unique mechanical, electrical, and optical properties that are directly influenced by their diameter and chirality. SWNTs are promising candidates for photovoltaics due to their high electrical conductivity and optical transparency. They do not require costly high vacuum processing conditions. SWNTs can be deposited onto different substrates using ultrasonic spray and membrane transfer methods. SWNTs have potential applications in solar cell technology. CdTe is one of the most promising semiconductor materials used for inexpensive solar cell technology. It has demonstrated a high efficiency of 20.4% in small area cells. One of the most important technological problems in CdTe solar cells is to make a good ohmic contact with CdTe for obtaining higher efficiencies. As CdTe has a very high work function, only high work functions metals can make a good ohmic contact with CdTe. However, no such metals with high work function than the work function of CdTe exist. Cu is used as a dopant in CdTe at the back contact in order to promote quantum mechanical tunneling. The record cell uses the Cu but the use of Cu causes a degradation of the device as Cu diffusion occurs through CdTe to the underlying CdS layer. In order to avoid such problems, Cu should not be used to create an ohmic contact with p-CdTe. The application of SWNT films without Cu at the back contact for CdTe solar cells has been investigated in this work. In this thesis, the use of SWNT films as a Cu free back contact in a CdTe solar cell and the corresponding device performance were investigated and compared with the performance of a device with the standard Cu/Au back contact. The main goal of this thesis work was the investigation of the fundamental physics involved in low contact barriers and the charge transport at the SWNT/CdTe and SWNT/Au interfaces.
Michael Heben (Committee Chair)
Robert Collins (Committee Member)
Thomas Kvale (Committee Member)
Randy Ellingson (Committee Member)
Terry Bigioni (Committee Member)
256 p.
Physics
Carbon Single Wall nanotube, CdTe, Solar Cell, Cu- free Back contact

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Khanal, R. R. (2014). Carbon Single Wall Nanotubes: Low Barrier, Cu- Free Back Contact to CdTe Based Solar Cells [Doctoral dissertation, University of Toledo]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1396625969

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Khanal, Rajendra. Carbon Single Wall Nanotubes: Low Barrier, Cu- Free Back Contact to CdTe Based Solar Cells . 2014. University of Toledo, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1396625969.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Khanal, Rajendra. "Carbon Single Wall Nanotubes: Low Barrier, Cu- Free Back Contact to CdTe Based Solar Cells ." Doctoral dissertation, University of Toledo, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1396625969

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

toledo1396625969
278
© 2014, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Carbon Single Wall Nanotubes: Low Barrier, Cu- Free Back Contact to CdTe Based Solar Cells by Rajendra R Khanal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Toledo and OhioLINK.