Case 14540

Virus enabled self-assembly of nanocomposites for highly efficient photovoltaic devices

Keywords:

Virus enabled nanocomposites assembly, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), dye-sensitized solar cells

Applications:

Dye-sensitized solar cells, fabrication of photo-anodes with improved power efficiency

Problem:

Photovoltaic devices has limited power conversion efficiency.

Technology:

This invention develops a general approach to synthesize single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)/Ti02 complex in dye-sensitized solar cells by biological template method, using genetically engineered M13 virus.

Advantages:
  • The virus bound and stabilized SWCNTs, hence no chemical modification needs to be done on SWCNTs and high electron mobility in SWCNTs is preserved.
  • It is showed that a non-trivial improvement of power efficiency of solar cells from 8% to 10.3% is possible by incorporating only .2wt% SWCNTs.

Inventors:
  • Professor Angela M Belcher (MIT Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering and Department of Biological Engineering)
  • Professor Paula T. Hammond (MIT Department of Chemical Engineering)
  • Xiangnan Dang (MIT Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering)
  • Hyunjung Yi (MIT Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering)

Intellectual Property:

US Patent Application Number 13/044748, filed on March 10, 2011

PCT Patent Application Number PCT/US2011/027831, filed on March 10, 2011

Publications:

MIT News 4/25/11

Last revised: August 31, 2011

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