Strained Carbon Nanotube (SCNT) Thin Layer Effect on GaAs Solar Cells Efficiency

In this paper, the effect of strain on the efficiency of GaAs solar cell is investigated. It has been shown that the applied strain during the synthesizing of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) leads to changing some of its physical properties. This means that strains can cause numerous changes in the structures. By using a strained layer of the carbon nanotubes on the GaAs solar cell, the effect of this layer on the performance of the GaAs solar cell is evaluated. This CNT layer can be used for several purposes. The first is to create a transparent electrical conductor at the cell surface to increase the output current. This purpose is one of the most important applications of this layer. But the second and more important goal is to capture more photons and reduce the emission or reflection of light emitted onto the cell surface. It is found that the mentioned goals cannot be satisfied simultaneously. Accordingly, to solve this problem, two different layers were used to achieve the ideal conditions. It has been shown that the use of a 10% uniaxial strained CNT layer leads to increase the photon absorption rate onto a non-strained CNT layer for electrical purposes. The efficiency of the single-junction GaAs solar cell with the above conditions reaches about 31% which is about 2% higher than the model without strain.