Polymethylmethacrylate coating on aligned carbon nanotube–silicon solar cells for performance improvement

Abstract

Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) coating has been spin-coated onto aligned carbon nanotube–silicon (CNT–Si) solar cells and the efficiency increased from 7.1% to 11.5%, and was further increased to 13.1% when doped with nitric acid (HNO₃) under air mass (AM 1.5) conditions. The antireflection of PMMA coating and the decreased resistance at the CNT–Si interface during PMMA drying process together contributed to the performance improvement.