Mathematical Modeling and Analysis of Carbon Nanotube Photovoltaic Systems*

This article considers first-principles predictive modeling of carbon nanotube photovoltaic (PV) devices, with the objective being to increase predictive capabilities to the point that systems engineering approaches can be applied. After covering some background, the state of the art in first-principles modeling is reviewed and extended to include the construction of realistic spatial placements of carbon nanotubes within the device during manufacturing and the effects of exciton hopping between carbon nanotubes. Challenges in the construction of improved first-principles models and some promising future directions are discussed.