Flexible carbon nanotube/mono-crystalline Si thin-film solar cells

Abstract

Flexible heterojunction solar cells were fabricated from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and mono-crystalline Si thin films at room temperature. The Si thin films with thickness less than 50 μm are prepared by chemically etching Si wafer in a KOH solution. The initial efficiency of the thin-film solar cell varies from approximately 3% to 5%. After doping with a few drops of 1 M HNO3, the efficiency increases to 6% with a short-circuit current density of 16.8 mA/cm2 and a fill factor of 71.5%. The performance of the solar cells depends on the surface state and thickness of Si thin films, as well as the interface of CNT/Si. The flexible CNT/Si thin-film solar cells exhibit good stability in bending-recovery cycles.