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According to a recent report by the American Physicists Organization Network, research teams from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Xiamen University in China have jointly developed a new technology to “plant†identical nanometer titanium dioxide rods onto carbon fibers, using this simple and inexpensive material. Manufacturing high quality tubular solar cells. The new method has advantages over the frequently used sol-gel method, which requires high temperatures and can lead to material fracture. Research papers were published in the proceedings of the American Chemical Society.
Compared to conventional flat-panel solar cells, a unique structure composed of titanium dioxide semiconductor nanorods grown on the surface of carbon fibers has several unique advantages. This flexible tubular solar cell can capture light from all directions and even has the potential to weave into fabrics and papers for novelty applications.
Co-author of the study, Guo Wenxi of the Georgia Institute of Technology, said: "This study demonstrates an innovative method of growing titanium dioxide nanorods on flexible substrates. The resulting product can be used in flexible equipment. Is used to capture and store energy."
Manufacturing tubular solar cells is a challenge because many steps are required, including the conversion of pure titanium flakes into titanium dioxide nanorods, the covering of carbon fibers with nanorods, and the uniform arrangement of nanorods on carbon fibers. The researchers explained that an ideal method for spreading titanium dioxide nanostructures on carbon fibers is to implant titanium dioxide nanostructures directly on the surface of carbon fibers.
The researchers did this by "dissolving and growing" methods, which transformed titanium into vertically aligned single crystal titanium dioxide nanorods and spread them onto carbon fibers. Next, in order to further improve the performance of the device, scientists used the "etching and growing" method, which uses hydrochloric acid and a hydrothermal method to etch the nanorods into a rectangular array.
Subsequently, scientists assembled carbon nanotubes coated with nanorods into a photoanode of tubular dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) and tested their performance in experiments. The results show that the photoelectric conversion efficiency obtained by rectangular string nanorod configuration is 1.28%, and the photoelectric conversion efficiency without string configuration is only 0.76%. The scientists believe that the difference stems from the larger surface area of ​​the nanorods, which absorb more dye molecules and cause more electrons to be excited.
The larger surface area allows tubular solar cells to capture light from all directions, making them more suitable for areas with limited sunlight intensity. In addition to manufacturing solar cells, new methods can also be extended to the manufacture of photocatalysts and lithium-ion batteries.
Guo Wenxi said: "In the future, we may only use carbon materials and titanium dioxide to produce dye-sensitized solar cells with potential for weaving into fabrics and papers." (Liu Xia)
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