SBIR Phase I: Integration of Biologically-Derived Nanowire/Nanotube Materials in Photovoltaic Design

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project focuses on integrating biologically-derived nanowire/nanotube materials in the design of solar cells. A photovoltaic that integrates the use of biologically-derived nanomaterials will be assembled in this project and the experience accumulated herein will be further applied in the future development of nanowire/nanotube PV cells. The existing commercial PV cells use inorganic materials, e.g., silicon, amorphous-silicon, or thin layers of gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and cadmium telluride (CdTe). These fabrication processes are complex and the cost of their manufacture facility is high. Recent developments in nanotechnology offer material design controlled at the nano/molecular scale that provide alternative choices for developing new commercial products. Contrasted to the traditional solid-state inorganic PV designs, dye-sensitized TiO2 solar cell (DSC) is a low cost photovoltaic with reasonable energy conversion efficiency, which takes advantage of the high surface area of mesoporous nanomaterials for harboring light sensitizers. Current progress in self-assembling biological systems may provide us other alternatives to replace TiO2 thin layer by utilizing protein- or DNA-based nano/micro structures Commercially, photovoltaic (PV) or solar cells present a renewable source of energy, which is becoming increasingly competitive to the conventional counterparts based on oil.