Carbon Nanotube-Silicon Nanowire Heterojunction Solar Cells with Gas-Dependent Photovoltaic Performances and Their Application in Self-Powered NO sub(2) Detecting

A multifunctional device combining photovoltaic conversion and toxic gas sensitivity is reported. In this device, carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes are used to cover onto silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays to form heterojunction. The porous structure and large specific surface area in the heterojunction s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanoscale research letters 2016-12, Vol.11 (1), p.1-6
Main Authors: Jia, Yi, Zhang, Zexia, Xiao, Lin, Lv, Ruitao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon nanotubes
Devices
Doping
Heterojunctions
Nanostructure
Nitrogen dioxide
Photovoltaic cells
Solar cells
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A multifunctional device combining photovoltaic conversion and toxic gas sensitivity is reported. In this device, carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes are used to cover onto silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays to form heterojunction. The porous structure and large specific surface area in the heterojunction structure are both benefits for gas adsorption. In virtue of these merits, gas doping is a feasible method to improve cell's performance and the device can also work as a self-powered gas sensor beyond a solar cell. It shows a significant improvement in cell efficiency (more than 200 times) after NO sub(2) molecules doping (device working as a solar cell) and a fast, reversible response property for NO sub(2) detection (device working as a gas sensor). Such multifunctional CNT-SiNW structure can be expected to open a new avenue for developing self-powered, efficient toxic gas-sensing devices in the future.
ISSN:1931-7573
1556-276X
DOI:10.1186/s11671-016-1514-6