Use of Carbon Nanotubes in Third-Generation Solar Cells

There is a clear need to make energy production cheap, readily accessible, and deployable in a vast array of locations and circumstances, while ensuring its production does not enhance the greenhouse effect on climate. Of all the options available, photovoltaics offers the highest probability of delivering a meaningful and sustainable change in the way society produces its energy. Third-generation approaches to photovoltaics offer real opportunities to deliver energy to broad sections of society, which will ultimately provide energy security. This technology offers the advantages of cheap production, flexibility (and hence a range of deployment opportunities), and tunability of light absorption. Significant efforts to improve these photovoltaic systems have involved the use of carbon nanotubes. This chapter will primarily focus on those efforts. Carbon nanotubes have been used in virtually every component of the devices to help charge conduction, improve electrode flexibility, and in some cases act as active light absorbing materials.