A scalable synthesis of carbon nanotube ink for Pad-dry-deposition method for solar cell application

Abstract

Solution processing of carbon nanotubes provides low-cost printable nanocarbon colloidal ink, enabling printed electronic devices. Scalable production of printable electronics with required electrical conductivity, electrocatalytic activity, and thermal stability is still challenging. Herein, we have developed a polymeric emulsion-based carbon nanotubes (CNTs) ink, specifically designed for pad-dry-cure (PDC) deposition method. Various emulsion compositions: namely ethylene glycol, carboxymethyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, and polyvinyl alcohol were investigated in terms of electrochemical characteristics. Our proposed system of PDC-CNT used as cathode material for dye-sensitized solar cell, demonstrated 9% photo conversion efficiency with 0.25 omega charge transfer resistance. It can be established that our proposed deposition method of carbon printing can be utilized for industrial scale fabrication of carbon-based electrodes for various solar cell applications.