Performance analysis of enhanced radiative cooling of solar cells based on a commercial silicon photovoltaic module

Abstract

Recent research on cooling solar cells through the radiative cooling method has elicited much interest. Compared with bare silicon solar cells, modified cells with enhanced radiative cooling can reduce temperature by over 10 °C, thereby improving the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of solar cells. At present, the commercial silicon photovoltaic (PV) module is the mainstream product for PV application. Thus, investigating the effect of enhanced radiative cooling on cooling solar cells based on a commercial PV module is imperative. In this study, the effect of enhanced radiative cooling on solar cells based on a commercial PV module was explored, and the application prospect was analyzed preliminarily. A sample of PV module (referred to as “commercial structure” hereinafter) was fabricated by encapsulating a bare crystalline silicon cell with glass. The spectral property of the commercial structure was modified by adding a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film on its top surface; this structure is referred to as “modified structure” hereinafter. A comparative experiment was conducted, and results showed that the solar cell temperatures in the commercial and modified structures were almost consistent. The effects of enhanced radiative cooling on the PV module under different conditions were also analyzed theoretically through a universal mathematical model. Simulation results revealed that the solar cell temperature could only be reduced by 1.75 K even in the ideal case. Experimental and simulation results indicated that enhanced radiative cooling based on a PV module shows no specific potential for cooling solar cells in actual settings. The performance of enhanced radiative cooling for solar cells in an extraterrestrial environment was also discussed preliminarily, and the results showed that radiative cooling can be applied as an alternative method for the thermal management of solar cells in the extraterrestrial environment.