Project Title: “A new generation of organic solar cells based on carbon nanotubes”

Acronym: OPVCNT

Project type: European

 

In terms of technological and socio-economic current energy crisis caused by the decrease of natural reserves of oil and natural gases, the bilateral cooperation project between the research teams of Romania and Moldova had the objective to obtain and study new generation of organic solar cells based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The high purity CNTs was produced by means of pulse laser ablation technique using an innovative design implemented by the Romanian partners. By using combined techniques like scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and Raman micro-spectroscopy the morphological and structural characterization of the produced CNTs were obtained. The solar cells proposed structure is sandwich type in which the photoactive layer will consist of photosensitive polymers and CNTs. Another novelty factor of the project was the use of CNTs for transparent electrodes of the solar cells. The purpose of the project is to study the optical, electrical and photoelectric effects in the OPV structures, aiming to investigate all the factors that influence the photoelectric conversion efficiency. Also, studies of the aging effect due to thermal or mechanical stress and prolonged exposure to light or moisture were proposed.