Performance study of organic photovoltaic/thermal system with synergistic effect of photocatalytic and thermal catalytic technology

Abstract

Organic photovoltaic cells are considered to be an effective solution for maintaining excellent electrical energy output in high temperature environment. However, the application of OPV alone has a low utilization rate of the solar spectrum. The combined application of OPV and other technologies is explored to improve the utilization efficiency of the solar spectrum. Based on the above gaps, this study proposes an organic photovoltaic/thermal system with synergistic effect of photocatalytic and thermal catalytic (PC/TC-OPV/T). By integrating organic photovoltaic cells, photocatalytic technology, thermal catalysis technology and photothermal components, the utilization efficiency of the solar spectrum is improved, and the triple functions of formaldehyde removal, electrical energy and hot water are realized. Therefore, this study proposes a new air purification-thermal-electrical model, establishes the heat transfer balance equation inside the system and the air purification and mass transfer balance equation in the air duct, proposes the performance evaluation index of the system, and uses Ansys Fluent software to predict the working characteristics of the system under different operating conditions, and draw the following conclusions: (1) Under the synergistic action of photocatalytic and thermal catalytic technologies, the formaldehyde removal efficiency is 84.4%, which is 30% higher than that of photocatalytic alone. (2) The electrical efficiency of the new system benefits from high solar irradiance and environment temperature, enabling it to achieve the efficiency of 17.84% within the research scope. (3) Under the research conditions, the instantaneous water flow heating efficiency of the system is up to 69.6%.