Rifqiyatun Saidah, Nandang Mufti, Eny Latifah, M. Tommy Hasan Abadi
This study aims to investigate the effect of SWCNT purification by acid treatment on the performance of Si/SWCNT solar cells. In general, the synthesized SWCNT contains impurities in the form of amorphous carbon and metal catalysts which can reduce the performance of Si/SWCNT solar cells. In addition, SWCNT is hydrophobic and forms bundles between nanotubes where these properties become an obstacle in the dispersion process in the solvent. In this study, acid treatment was carried out using different acids (HCl and HCl/H2O2) to dissolve impurities and exfoliation of SWCNT bundles. Furthermore, sample characterization was carried out using XRD for phase identification, SEM-EDX to determine the morphology and elements contained in the sample, and a solar simulator to determine the efficiency of solar cells. The XRD analysis found that the impurity of Fe metal did not wholly disappear, which was also confirmed by the EDX results. After HCl and HCl/H2O2 treatment, the impurities decreased by 34.19% and 51.68%, respectively. Based on the SEM results, after the acid treatment, the SWCNT bundles were exfoliated to obtain a better dispersion. The best efficiency of Si/SWCNT solar cells was obtained after HCl/H2O2 acid treatment. © 2023 American Institute of Physics Inc.. All rights reserved.
Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jl. Semarang No. 5, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; Center of Advanced Materials for Renewable Energy, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jl. Semarang No. 5, Malang, 65145, Indonesia