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Recently, a team of researchers from MIT made a breakthrough in solar cell technology by incorporating graphene into their design. By combining graphene with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires and other materials, they developed an advanced version of solar cells that shows promising performance. One of the key innovations is the replacement of traditional indium tin oxide (ITO), a commonly used transparent conductor, with graphene. The results show that the efficiency of this new design is nearly comparable to that of conventional ITO-based solar cells.
A major challenge in using graphene as a base for semiconductor materials lies in its structural stability. It's difficult to grow semiconductors directly on top of graphene without damaging its electrical properties or physical structure. To overcome this, the researchers first applied a thin polymer layer on the graphene surface, acting as an intermediary between the graphene and the ZnO nanowires. On top of that, they added a hole transport layer. In their experiment, they tested two types of p-type materials: lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dots achieved an efficiency of 4.2%, while a conjugated polymer called P3HT reached 0.5%.
According to Silvija GradeÄak, an associate professor at MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, "Although our current efficiency still lags behind that of silicon-based solar cells, it's already close to what we see in ITO-based systems. For the first time, we showed that the performance of nanowire solar cells isn't compromised when graphene replaces ITO." She also highlighted the benefits of using graphene instead of ITO. Since ITO contains rare metals like indium, which are expensive and limited in supply, replacing them with graphene—made from carbon, which is abundant and low-cost—offers a more sustainable solution. Additionally, graphene is flexible, lightweight, strong, and chemically stable, making it ideal for next-generation solar technologies.
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