DAS Solar’s breakthrough in silicon-based carbon nanotube solar cell

Solar cell and module manufacturer DAS Solar, in collaboration with Hebei University, has developed a high-efficiency, stable silicon-based carbon nanotube solar cell, named CNT:PSS/Si. The research findings, titled Efficient and Stable Hole-Transport Material for Solar Cells: from PEDOT:PSS to Carbon Nanotubes:PSS, were published in a leading academic energy journal, ACS Energy Letters.

The team combined the high conductivity and optical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNT) with the passivation effect of polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) to create a non-doped, highly efficient, and stable hole transport material CNT:PSS. Using monocrystalline silicon as a substrate, the team coated it with a CNT:PSS thin film to produce CNT:PSS/Si cells, achieving over 23.3% efficiency, with simulations indicating the potential to reach 29%.

Recently, a Weining County government release revealed that DAS Solar is entering the back-contact (BC) domain, having submitted plans for a 5 GW high-efficiency BC cell facility in Bijie, Guizhou Province (see China Solar PV News Snippets).