Buckypaper-cored novel photovoltaic sensors for in-situ structural health monitoring of composite materials using hybrid quantum dots
Abstract
This paper reports on work developing an efficient distributed photovoltaic (PV) sensor using Buckypaper (BP) as working electrodes (WEs). BP is a thin sheet made from an aggregate of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with the advantages of good mechanical properties, high electrical conductivity and flexibility. These advantages enable sensor flexibility and significantly improve the charge transfer speed. In addition to BPs, quantum dots (QD) have recently drawn attention in photoconversion systems due to high absorption coefficient, tunable band gap and multiple exciton generation (MEG) effects. Herein, this work proposes to apply np-TiO2/mp-TiO2/CdS/CdSe/N719 hybrid structure to realize both MEG effects and multiple electron transmission paths. Previous research has confirmed that a liquid electrolyte and glass cladding were also components of the assembly process which additionally improve sensor efficiency. However, the reported efficiency (>5%) of the solid state sensor is ten times that seen in previous work utilizing metal-cored wire-shaped liquid PV sensor. This article also discusses surface characterization of nanowires and the functionalization of solid-solid interfacial properties. Moreover, the distributed PV sensor construction is the basis of ongoing work towards embedded smart composites with intrinsic triboluminescent/mechanoluminescent (TL/ML) features.
Publication Title
Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series
Recommended Citation
Yan, J., Daramola, D., Antolinez, J., Okoli, N., Dickens, T., & Okoli, O. (2016). Buckypaper-cored novel photovoltaic sensors for in-situ structural health monitoring of composite materials using hybrid quantum dots. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, 7, 73-79. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21762-8_9
