Hybrid Nanowire-Optical Fiber Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Based on a Stacked Ribbon and Interdigitated Electrode Configuration

This invention is directed to a solar cell that employs an optical fiber and semiconductor nanowires grown around the fiber. A p-n junction based design organic-inorganic heterojunction or a dye-sensitized structure is built at the surfaces of the nanowires. Light entering the fiber from a tip propagates through the fiber until it enters a nanowire where it reaches a photovoltaic element. Light entering the fiber cannot escape until it interacts with a photovoltaic element thereby increasing the solar conversion efficiency. The fiber can transmit light while the nanowires around the fibers increase the surface area of light exposure.