Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes as Integrative Building Blocks for Solar-Energy Conversion

摘要

Abundant clean energy is one of the greatest challenges facing the world in the 21st century. Solar energy conversion is one of the most natural and abundant ways to produce alternative energy to carbon fuels. Over the years, the use of inorganic semiconducting materials has dominated the solar energy conversion market. However, the production of organic or mixed organic/inorganic solar cells has visibly increased the potential of solar energy conversion and made an impact with a broad range of innovative technologies. Most promising approaches include dye-sensitized nanocrystalline solar cells, polymer/fullerene blends, small-molecule thin films, and hybrid polymeranocrystal devices. Small-area dye-sensitized solar cells have so far reached conversions of about 11 %, whereas polymer-fullerene blends have been reported with 3 % efficiency. Recently, discotic liquid crystalline materials have been successfully used in the construction of organic solar cells.