3D NOVEL PHOTOVOLTAIC SENSORS FOR IN-SITU STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING (SHM) OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS USING HYBRID QUANTUM DOTS (QDS)

摘要

This paper reports the work of developing an efficient 3D photovoltaic (PV) sensor using carbonrnnanotube yarns (CNYs) as both working and counter electrodes. CNYs consist of numerousrncarbon nanotubes with the advantages of excellent mechanical properties, high electricalrnconductivity and outstanding flexibility. These advantages enable sensor flexibility andrnsignificantly improve the charge transfer speed. In addition to carbon nanotubes (CNTs),rnquantum dots (QDs) have recently drawn attention in photoenergy conversion systems due to arnhigh absorption coefficient, tunable band gap and multiple exciton generation (MEG) effects[1,rn2]. Herein, this report proposes to apply np-TiO2/mp-TiO2/CdS/CdSe/N719 hybrid structure tornrealize both MEG effects and multiple electron transmission paths. The reported energyrnconversion efficiency (6.03%) with the solid state PV sensor is ten-times higher than that of thernmetal-cored wire-shaped PV sensor we published before, which is even higher than the liquidrncell with a conversion efficiency of 5.80% reported elsewhere [3, 4]. This article also discussesrnsurface characterization of nanowires and the functionalization of solid-solid interfacialrnproperties. The 3D PV sensor construction is the basis of ongoing work towards embedded smartrncomposites with intrinsic triboluminescent/mechanoluminescent (TL/ML) features.