title: Continuous Preparation of Copper/Carbon Nanotube Composite Films and Application in Solar Cells.
abstract: Realizing the continuous and large scale preparation of particle/carbon nanotube (CNT) composites with enhanced functionalities, and broad applications in energy conversion, harvesting, and storage systems, remains as a big challenge. Here, we report a scalable strategy to continuously prepare particle/CNT composite films in which particles are confined by CNT films. This is achieved by the continuous condensation and deposition of a cylindrical assembly of CNTs on a paper strip and the in situ incorporation of particles during the layer-by-layer deposition process. A Cu/CNT composite film is prepared as an example; such a film exhibits very high power conversion efficiency when it is used as a counter electrode in a solar cell, compared with previous materials under otherwise identical conditions. The proposed method can be extended to other CNT-based composite films with excellent functionalities for wide applications.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao Gang
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Le Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao Xia
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xin Hua
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, P. R. China. jnwang@ecust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jian Nong
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry; D012993:Solar Energy
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D003300:Copper
keywords: carbon nanotubes; copper nanoparticles; counter electrode; energy conversion; solar cells