美国麻省理工学院的研究人员日前成功利用病毒提高太阳能电池能量转化效率,该技术有望应用于太阳能电池生产。研究报告发表在新一期的《自然—纳米技术》上。
碳纳米管一直是科学家试图应用于太阳能电池的理想材料,它可以提高电池的电子收集效率,但碳纳米管容易发生团簇、导电性不均匀,这又使得碳纳米管的效果反而降低。
科学家在这项研究中注意到,一种被称为M13的转基因病毒可用于控制碳纳米管的排列,让碳纳米管变得分散、不会团簇在一起,从而避免电流因为碳纳米管而发生短路。他们将这种病毒加入染料敏化太阳能电池中进行测试,发现电池能量转化率从8%提高到10.6%——这样的变化是很显著的。
通过进一步研究,科学家发现M13病毒可以产生出二氧化钛涂层并包裹在每根碳纳米管表面——而二氧化钛又是染料敏化太阳能电池的一种关键成分,且M13具有的缩氨酸可固定碳纳米管的空间位置,保持其分散性。正是以上两点提升了染料敏化太阳能电池的光电转化率。
研究人员表示在未来的研究中,电池的能量转化率还能得到进一步提高,并且由于加入M13病毒的步骤很简单,该技术的产业化可以很快实现。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原文出处:
doi:10.1038/nnano.2011.50
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Virus-templated self-assembled single-walled carbon nanotubes for highly efficient electron collection in photovoltaic devices
Xiangnan Dang,1, 2, 5 Hyunjung Yi,1, 2, 5 Moon-Ho Ham,3 Jifa Qi,1, 2 Dong Soo Yun,1, 2 Rebecca Ladewski,2, 3 Michael S. Strano,3 Paula T. Hammond2, 3 & Angela M. Belcher1, 2, 4
The performance of photovoltaic devices could be improved by using rationally designed nanocomposites with high electron mobility to efficiently collect photo-generated electrons. Single-walled carbon nanotubes exhibit very high electron mobility, but the incorporation of such nanotubes into nanocomposites to create efficient photovoltaic devices is challenging. Here, we report the synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotube–TiO2 nanocrystal core–shell nanocomposites using a genetically engineered M13 virus as a template. By using the nanocomposites as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells, we demonstrate that even small fractions of nanotubes improve the power conversion efficiency by increasing the electron collection efficiency. We also show that both the electronic type and degree of bundling of the nanotubes in the nanotube/TiO2 complex are critical factors in determining device performance. With our approach, we achieve a power conversion efficiency in the dye-sensitized solar cells of 10.6%.