A thermal framework for preliminary evaluation of the development of dye-sensitized solar cells in temperate and warm climates

Abstract

Environmental conditions influence the development of solar cell technologies; variables such as solar irradiation, wind speed, and ambient temperature influence the operating temperature of the cells, which affect their electrical performance; however, this effect may differ according to the solar technology. In the case of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs), it is necessary to generate more studies to evaluate their behavior in different types of climates under real conditions, as it is known that, in comparison with Silicon cells, DSSCs show a lower decrease in their efficiency values when are subjected to high operating temperatures. Nevertheless, temperature is cited as the most important external variable affecting the stability of DSSCs. Therefore, in this paper, a new thermal numerical model is proposed to obtain the operating temperature contours of the DSSCs under real environmental conditions for two types of climates representative of Mexico (temperate and warm climate). The operating temperatures have been investigated as a function of solar irradiance, ambient temperature, wind speeds, and varying different electrolytes. It concludes that the efficiency gap between DSSCs and Silicon cells decreases as the operating temperature increases; moreover, an efficiency of 12.2% in DSSCs and 25.09% in Silicon cells were presented with 300 K of operating temperature, and an efficiency of 11.02% in DSSCs and 13.7% in Silicon cells were presented with 400 K of operating temperature. This concludes that DSSC technology might be an appropriate alternative for temperate and hot climates. DSSCs show a decrease in the efficiency of 9.76% compared to Silicon solar cells, which show a decrease in 50.1%.