Strained Carbon Nanotube (SCNT) Thin Layer Effect on GaAs Solar Cells Efficiency

Subject Areas : Journal of Optoelectronical Nanostructures

S.N jafari ¹ , Abbas Ghadimi ² , s. rouhi ³

1 - Department of Electrical Engineering, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran,
2 - Department of Electrical Engineering, Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran
3 - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Langarud Branch, Islamic Azad University, Langarud, Iran,

Received: 2020-02-02 Accepted : 2020-06-15 Published : 2020-11-01

Keywords: Strained Carbon Nanotubes (SCNT), Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs), Transparent, Single-junction Solar cells,

Abstract :

In this paper, the effect of strain on the efficiency of GaAs solar cell is
investigated. It has been shown that the applied strain during the synthesizing of carbon
nanotubes (CNTs) leads to changing some of its physical properties. This means that strains
can cause numerous changes in the structures. By using a strained layer of the carbon
nanotubes on the GaAs solar cell, the effect of this layer on the performance of the GaAs
solar cell is evaluated. This CNT layer can be used for several purposes. The first is to
create a transparent electrical conductor at the cell surface to increase the output current.
This purpose is one of the most important applications of this layer. But the second and
more important goal is to capture more photons and reduce the emission or reflection of
light emitted onto the cell surface. It is found that the mentioned goals cannot be satisfied
simultaneously. Accordingly, to solve this problem, two different layers were used to
achieve the ideal conditions. It has been shown that the use of a 10% uniaxial strained CNT
layer leads to increase the photon absorption rate onto a non-strained CNT layer for
electrical purposes. The efficiency of the single-junction GaAs solar cell with the above
conditions reaches about 31% which is about 2% higher than the model without strain.

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