Harnessing light energy with a planar transparent hybrid of graphene/single wall carbon nanotube/n-type silicon heterojunction solar cell

The photovoltaic conversion efficiency of a solar cell fabricated by a simple electrophoretic method with a planar transparent hybrid of graphenes (GPs) and single wall carbon nanotubes (SCNTs)/n-type silicon heterojunction was significantly increased compared to GPs/n-Si and SCNTs/n-Si solar cells. The power conversion efficiency was increased by more than 1.6 fold compared to SCNTs or GPs fabricated solar devices. The performance improvement of the hybrid photovoltaic device can mainly be attributed to the increase of the conductivity of the hybrid transparent film. Further improvement was achieved by doping the hybrid film with Au nanoparticles, and the power conversion efficiency can be increased to 8.8%. The fabrication processes are simple, low cost and fit for scaling. The results demonstrate that planar transparent hybrid of GPs/SCNTs/n-Si heterojunction is efficient for solar energy conversion and is promising for light harvesting.