This work improved energy efficiency, stability and energy stability in organic and organic perovskite solar cells, by using titanium dioxide as anti-reflective coating on silver. The use of graphene oxide-nickel oxide layer as a hole-transporting layer enhanced carrier mobility in addition to incrementing stability. The outcomes that have been meticulously extracted and analyzed from the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations provide compelling evidence that this particular methodology can be adeptly utilized to significantly enhance the capability to attain a remarkably broad absorption spectrum across a wide range of wavelengths, specifically those identified frorm 200 nm to 900 nm, which are of critical importance in solar cell applications. Optical analysis was conducted by Maxwell method. Dielectric plasmonic wire grating was proposed to increase optical absorbance and achieve maximum current. The electrical analysis of the structure was based on Poisson’s equations. Optical analysis of the inorganic halide perovskite revealed current density, open circuit voltage, fill factor, and power of 34.294 mA/cm2, 1.04 V, 0.83369817, and 1.64 mA/cm2. The energy conversion efficiency was also 29.3%.

Non-fullerene acceptors are promising materials for organic solar cells because of their flexibility and low cost; however, their long-term stability remains a critical challenge. In this study, we investigate the degradation mechanisms of conventionally structured solar cells (ITO/PEDOT: PSS/PM6/Y7/PDINO/Ag) under different environmental conditions: nitrogen preservation, encapsulation, and air exposure. Using the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) model, we simulate the current-voltage characteristics and extract key parameters to understand the physical mechanisms governing device degradation. The results show that air exposure primarily affects the anode interface, reducing the interfacial dipole energy and shifting the Fermi-level alignment of PEDOT: PSS, which is crucial for efficient hole extraction. This process leads to a deterioration in the hole transport properties over time, significantly affecting device performance. In contrast, the cathodic interface remains stable, suggesting that degradation is largely driven by changes in the hole transport layer. These findings provide critical insights into the interfacial degradation mechanisms of the NFA-based solar cells. Understanding these effects will aid in the development of strategies to enhance the stability and efficiency of organic photovoltaic devices for long-term operation.

Granular materials like sand have gained importance in thermal storage applications due to their stability and cost-effectiveness. However, excessive usage of sand can pose environmental issues. This study investigates recycled construction materials such as glass, asphalt, ceramic, and concrete as alternatives to natural sand for low-temperature TES applications. The materials were processed to similar grain sizes and evaluated for their chemical, thermophysical, and thermal storage properties through a six-hour charging cycle at 60 °C. XRF analysis revealed significant compositions, including high oxygen and silicon content in concrete and sand, respectively. Results indicate that sand with 0.189 W/m K recorded the highest thermal conductivity compared with concrete 0.172 W/m K, glass 0.131 W/m K, ceramic 0.159 W/m K and asphalt 0.159 W/m K. A higher specific heat capacity was observed in concrete at 755 J/kg K, followed by asphalt at 732 J/kg K, glass at 708 J/kg K, and sand at 688 J/kg K. However, ceramic is categorized for a lower specific heat capacity of 682 J/kg K. Absolute density evaluation indicates that sand is the densest material with 2662 kg/m3, contrary to concrete 2480 kg/m3, glass 2421 kg/m3, ceramic 2285 kg/m3, and asphalt 2436 kg/m3. More to the point, the Ragone plot for specific power and energy highlighted that ceramic has a rapid energy release and concrete demonstrated sustained energy storage capabilities. Volumetric power and energy density assessments indicated sand's outstanding performance. However, concrete registered a superior thermal storage among recycled materials. The results highlight that recycled materials, specifically concrete can be used for thermal storage applications like water heating in poor communities.

In this work, different varieties of dye sensitized solar cells are fabricated by simple fabrication process. In this fabrication extract of butea monosperma flower, methylene blue and methyl orange dyes are used as sensitizers. The photovoltaic performance of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has been studied. The performances of two different types of photo-electrodes are also tested in this work. The morphology and bandgap of TiO2 (titanium dioxide) and ZnO (Zinc oxide) was observed from XRD, FTIR spectroscopy and UV-vis Spectrum. It is found that TiO2 based DSSCs have better performance. It also observed that the current density and efficiency was increased from 7.46 to 12.9 mA/cm2 and from 1.34 to 6.8% respectively when using methyl orange as a dye. Hence it can be said that methyl orange dye enhanced the photovoltaic performance of DSSC.

Using of agricultural residues for briquette production attracts the attention of many researchers to overcome the problems related to the usage of fossil fuels as an energy source. This study focused on the production of briquettes from sesame stalks as an alternative fuel in Cement industries. The briquettes were produced from carbonized sesame stalks using paper waste, cow dung, and a mixture of cow dung and paper waste binders. The data analysis of the charcoal briquettes was carried out using two-way ANOVA without replication using Microsoft Excel. The binder ratio and binder types have a significant effect on the density and shatter resistance. Briquettes made using carbonized sesame stalks have the highest density of 1.133 g/cm3 at 5% of cow dung binder. The highest shatter resistance having a value of 91.00% was found in carbonized briquette prepared using 25% cow dung binder. Six briquettes were selected for proximate and calorific value analysis. The highest heating value of the produced briquettes was 4794.38 kcal/kg at 5% of cow dung binder, which has moisture, ash, fixed carbon, and volatile matter of 6.54, 14, 30.7, and 48.76% respectively. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur contents of a briquette, which has the highest heating value, were recorded at 46.34, 2.50, 50.89, 0.27, and 0.00% respectively. Production of a briquette from carbonized sesame stalks using 5% cow dung binder is suitable from economic and environmental points of view.

Herein, human hair-derived activated carbon (HH-AC) with remarkable physisorption properties such as high surface area and well-balanced micro- and mesopores, is synthesized by chemical activation method using potassium hydroxide (KOH). The activated carbon is synthesized at different ratio of charred human hair and activator as 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 for HH AC(11), HH-AC(12) and HH-AC(13), respectively. These activated materials are characterized by a powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Laser Raman spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscope (SEM), and adsorption/desorption isotherms. To examine the influence of the micro-mesopore ratio with high surface area on supercapacitor behavior, all samples are tested in a three-electrode using 2.5 moles of potassium nitrate (2.5 M KNO3) as electrolyte solution. The results show that HH-AC(12) sample which has micro to mesopore-balanced exhibited superior electrochemical performance with specific capacitance of and in the negative and positive potential, respectively at . The sample HH-AC(11), which is dominated by micropores, showed lower rate capability and specific capacitance despite the huge surface area.Whereas the HH-AC(13) sample with mostly mesopores achieved higher rate capability compared to the others. The HH-AC(12) is further examined in a 2-electrode setup to form a symmetric device. The results show a specific energy of and a specific power of at . The device demonstrates outstanding capacitance retention of after 10,000 cycles. Thus, ACs with micro to mesopores-balanced are potential candidates for supercapacitor applications.

The utilization of fossil fuels for power generation results in the production of a greater quantity of pollutants and greenhouse gases, which exerts detrimental impacts on the ecosystem. A range of solar energy technologies can be employed to address forthcoming energy demands, concurrently mitigating pollution and protecting the world from global threats. This study critically reviewed all four generations of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, focusing on fundamental concepts, material used, performance, operational principles, and cooling systems, along with their respective advantages and disadvantages. The manuscript analyzes various materials, including their performance, physical properties (electronic and optical), biodegradability, availability, cost, temperature stability, degradation rate, and other parameters. The sensible engineering of effective solar devices made of cutting -edge materials along with nanostructured ternary metal sulphides, and three-dimensional graphene are also briefly discussed which are more versatile, stable, thin and light weight with high performance as compare to third generation solar cells. The impact of material alterations is delineated in PV, where the efficiency of solar cell technology has improved from 4% to 47.1%. Further the research article deals with different internal and external stress factors affecting the solar PV module performance.

TiO2 has attracted a lot of attention as anode material for sodium-ion batteries due to its higher operating voltage, safely and low lost material, but TiO2 has two main issues, low electronic conductivity and slow solid-state ion diffusion. These issues have been successfully resolved by researchers using carbon coating on TiO2. In this work, carbon coated TiO2 (CC-TiO2) nanoparticles have been synthesized by using TiO2 and sucrose as soluble source of carbon. The carbon coating on TiO2 particles was formed after heat treatment in inert atmosphere. CC-TiO2 particles exhibited reversible capacity of 116 mAh g− 1 at 0.1 C after 50 cycles, and high capacity retention of 77% after 100 cycles in a sodium-ion battery cell. The impressive electrochemical performance of the TiO2 particles is due to several factors: the small size of the crystallites, the continuous electronic network created by the close contact of individual carbon-coated TiO2 particles, and the efficient penetration of the mesopores by the electrolyte.

Increasing the Te content in stoichiometric Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 facilitates effective control over the anti-site defects and nanostructure; however, arresting excess Te in the host matrix is challenging. Herein, we report the success of a saturation-annealing treatment in a vacuum, followed by air-quenching as a promising approach for synthesizing high figure-of-merit (zT) Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3+xTe (x = 0, 2, 5 and 10 wt%) materials. A remarkably high-power factor (α2σ ~ 6 mW at 300 K) is achieved in p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 + 5 wt% Te composition due to high carrier concentration (n) and good carrier mobility (µ). Microstructural analysis revealed the formation of densely interconnected polycrystalline grains featuring fine grain boundaries, planar/point defects, and strain field domains, contributing towards wide-length scale phonon scattering. The cumulative effect of drastically reduced thermal conductivity (κ ~ 0.8 W/m-K at 300 K), and enhanced power factor resulted in a record zT value ~ 2.2 at 300 K in Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 + 5 wt% Te, with an average zT value up to 1.35 in temperatures ranging from 303 to 573 K. The COMSOL simulations predict a maximum conversion efficiency (ηmax) of ~ 15%, at a temperature gradient (∆T) of 270 K, for a single-leg thermoelectric generator (TEG) developed using this material.

Abstract In the pursuit of higher conversion efficiency, the PV industry has turned its focus towards perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells, which currently represent the peak of innovation. To surpass the efficiency limits of traditional single-junction cells, researchers are exploring the potential of these tandem solar cells by integrating the merits of perovskite and silicon. However, integrating these cells brings different challenges, such as deposition methods and material misalignments. Thus, in this work, we are using advanced simulation techniques, including Silvaco ATLAS’s Victory Process and Device Simulator to imitate the actual manufacturing processes. Primarily this research work focuses on three scenarios: shunting, planarization and conformal deposition to emulate the experimental conditions. The obtained results show the potential and effectiveness of process simulations in accurately predicting and improving the PV performance of the tandem solar cell. Two different perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells are designed using process simulations which showed a conversion efficiency of 27.51% and 29.08% respectively. This work highlights the importance of using simulation tools for the further development of tandem solar cell technology. Detailed process and device simulations reported in this work may pave the way in the fabrication of optimised perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell.