One goal of simulation and modeling is to provide insight into important  systems of scientific and technical interest. Appoaching such systems involves  treating accurately complex heterogeneous interfaces. In this lecture, the development of carbon-based materials for solar cell applications is described. In  thin film solar cells, a transparent conducting electrode (TCE) is required to move  carriers from the cell surface to collection busbars. These are typically oxides which are brittle and expensive to fabricate. Carbon based alternatives are given and through simulation and modeling the physics and chemistry underlying their function delineated and comparisons made to experiment. In particular we consider graphene and graphene-nanotube hybrids, both with and without chemical doping and with and without a novel micoscale busbar-finger array[1-4]. Through the modeling and collaborative experimental work, are able to show promising carbon-based materials  structures that out-perform oxide-based TCE's.Publications:[1] 'Conductance through Multilayer Graphene Films', M.A. Kuroda, J. Tersoff, D.M. Newns, and G.J. Martyna, Nano Lett., 11, 3629 (2011).[2] 'The Role of Chemistry in Graphene Doping for Carbon-Based Electronics', R.A. Nistor, D.M. Newns, and G.J. Martyna, ACS Nano, 5, 3096 (2011).[3] 'Nonlinear Screening in Multilayer Graphene Systems',M.A. Kuroda, J. Tersoff, and G.J. Martyna, Phys. Rev. Lett., 106, 116804 (2011).[4] New work, in progress 2011-2012

Simulation and modeling of materials for science and technology: Carbon-based structures for solar cell applications

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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