Efficiency Of Photovoltaic Cells Research Articles

Monitoring of the mining waste neutralization facility of LW Bogdanka

Investing in renewable energy sources bringing direct profits from unattractive areas is one of the most advantageous ways of wastelands revitalization. In the case of post-mining dumps, it is realized by using photovoltaics and wind turbines. Analyzes showed that the greatest benefits can be acquired from photovoltaic farms, mainly due to the simplicity of their design and principles of operation, as well as the quick return on investment - up to 7 years. The construction of wind turbines is more complicated. Despite the favorable conditions of the mining dumps (elevated areas, which are located mainly away from residential buildings), the construction of the turbine requires more effort in designing and installation work, mainly due to the necessity of building the foundations. Methods for revitalizing mine dumps by installing renewable energy systems have some limitations due to periodicity of operation (time of day, season), weather conditions (wind speed, temperature), expensive energy storage, etc. For this reason, real-time monitoring of climatic conditions is required. The following parameters are monitored: the average available solar energy (important for the assessment of the efficiency of photovoltaic cells), speed and direction of the wind (which affects the efficiency of wind turbines), changes in groundwater level (risk of flooding and periodic soil softening), soil and air temperature (air – affects the choice of the method of revitalization, soil – affects the preservation of soil) and dust concentration, which affects the degree of contamination of the photovoltaic modules and thus the efficiency of the photovoltaic (PV) power plant. The presentation includes interesting data that was obtained during the tests.

Electrical, optical and morphological properties of Au/n-Ge heterostructures by using cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) interlayer

The morphology of CoPc thin films on n-Ge substrate characterized using AFM measurements shows fairly smooth surface with RMS roughness of 8.42 nm. Structural analysis of cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) thin films is confirmed using Raman measurements at 785 nm excitation wavelength with three vibrational modes at 1539 cm−1 resembles the C-N bond and 755 cm−1, 685 cm−1resembles to C-C bonds. The EDS spectrum of the Au/CoPc/n-Ge surface reveals the presence of elements contributing the structure of CoPc. Optical properties of CoPc thin films described with a Q band splitting between 600 to 700 nm with an optical bandgap of 3.8 eV The electrical measurements of Au/n-Ge Schottky heterostructures with CoPc interlayer reveals that the barrier height parameters are significantly improved than without interlayer. Low series resistance values of heterostructures than pristine contact shows its applicability in efficient photovoltaic cells. The conduction mechanisms of these contacts are evaluated using forward current-voltage properties. At moderately high forward voltages, the transport properties of Au/CoPc/n-Ge heterostructures are truly dominated by trap charge limited current (TCLC) mechanism. The photodiode properties of CoPc/n-Ge heterostructures were investigated at 775 nm wavelength and the responsivity and detectivity of the contacts found to be varied with reverse voltage.

Transforming III-V binaries into stable ternary materials for solar cells applications

The world speedily growing energy demand motivates vivid interest and intensive searching new optimal direct bandgap materials for efficient thin-film photovoltaic cell devices. Here, we present solar cell materials search using density functional theory and ab initio evolutionary algorithm. The compounds in focus belong to cationic ternary III-V family. It is found that AlGaN2 (P3m1), InGaN2 (P3m1), AlGaP2 (P4‾ m2) InGaP2 (R3m), AlGaAs2 (R3m) and InGaAs2 (R3m and P4‾ m2) are weakly unstable (enthalpy of formation between 4 and 76 meV) with respect to decomposition, the vibrational calculations divulge that these materials should be synthesized under moderate growth temperature. Moreover, phonon dispersion and elastic constants calculations evince dynamical and structural stability of these compounds.Accurate electronic band structures evidence that most of the ternary III-V materials are semiconductors with direct bandgaps except AlGaP2 that is found indirect. Based on the metric of spectroscopic limited maximum efficiency, solar cell efficiency of AlGaAs2, InGaAs2 (R3m), InGaP2, InGaN2, and InGaAs2 (P4‾ m2) is predicted respectively to be 24%, 24.6%, 25.9%, ∼30% and ∼30.6%, which exceeds those of materials currently used as absorber layer.

Thermal performance of radiative magnetohydrodynamic Oldroyd-B hybrid nanofluid with Cattaneo–Christov heat flux model: Solar-powered ship application

The demand for efficient applications of solar energy and nanomaterials has grown significantly in recent years due to industrial needs and the desire to minimize energy consumption and costs. However, the efficiency of photovoltaic cells and solar-powered ships is highly dependent on solar radiation. In this study, a model for the installation of a parabolic trough surface collector (PTSC) was developed to achieve high temperatures on solar-powered ships. The current study analyzed the thermal characterization function in solar-powered ships under the effect of heat radiation, magnetic field, and viscous dissipation by employing hybrid magnetite particles (Fe3O4) and silver (Ag). The Cattaneo–Christov model has been used to assess heat flux in the thermal boundary layer. The Galerkin weighted residual method (GWRM) has been employed to solve the ordinary differential equations using MATHEMATICA 11.3 software. The findings showed that the thermal efficiency of the hybrid nanofluid was significantly enhanced by 56.3% relative percentage. The motto of the current investigation is developing a model for the installation of PTSC on solar-powered ships under various provided assumptions.

Dendrimer Modification Strategy Based on the Understanding of the Photovoltaic Mechanism of a Perovskite Device under Full Sun and Indoor Light

The wide-band-gap inorganic CsPbI2Br perovskite material provides a highly matched absorption range with the indoor light spectrum and is expected to be used in the fabrication of highly efficient indoor photovoltaic cells (IPVs) and self-powered low-power Internet of Things (IoT) sensors. However, the defects that cause nonradiative recombination and ion migration are assumed to form leakage loss channels, resulting in a severe impact on the open-circuit voltage (VOC) and the fill factor (FF) of IPVs. Herein, we introduce poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers with multiple passivation sites to fully repair the leakage channels in the devices, taking into account the characteristics of IPVs that are extremely sensitive to nonradiative recombination and shunt resistance. The as-optimized IPVs demonstrate a promising PCE of 35.71% under a fluorescent light source (1000 lux), with VOC increased from 0.99 to 1.06 V and FF improved from 75.21 to 84.39%. The present work provides insight into the photovoltaic mechanism of perovskites under full sun and indoor light, which provides guidance for perovskite photovoltaic technology with industrialization prospects.

Anharmonicity of Plasmons in Metallic Nanostructures Useful for Metallization of Solar Cells.

Metallic nanoparticles are frequently applied to enhance the efficiency of photovoltaic cells via the plasmonic effect, and they play this role due to the unusual ability of plasmons to transmit energy. The absorption and emission of plasmons, dual in the sense of quantum transitions, in metallic nanoparticles are especially high at the nanoscale of metal confinement, so these particles are almost perfect transmitters of incident photon energy. We show that these unusual properties of plasmons at the nanoscale are linked to the extreme deviation of plasmon oscillations from the conventional harmonic oscillations. In particular, the large damping of plasmons does not terminate their oscillations, even if, for a harmonic oscillator, they result in an overdamped regime.

Topotactic, Vapor-Phase, In Situ Monitored Formation of Ultrathin, Phase-Pure 2D-on-3D Halide Perovskite Surfaces.

Two-dimensional (2D) halide perovskites, HaPs, can provide chemical stability to three-dimensional (3D) HaP surfaces, protecting them from exposure to ambient species and from reacting with contacting layers. Both actions occur with 2D HaPs, with the general stoichiometry R2PbI4 (R: long or bulky organic amine) covering the 3D ones. Adding such covering films can also boost power conversion efficiencies of photovoltaic cells by passivating surface/interface trap states. For maximum benefit, we need conformal ultrathin and phase-pure (n = 1) 2D layers to enable efficient tunneling of photogenerated charge carriers through the 2D film barrier. Conformal coverage of ultrathin (<10 nm) R2PbI4 layers on 3D perovskites is challenging with spin coating; even more so is its upscaling for larger-area devices. We report on vapor-phase cation exchange of the 3D surface with the R2PbI4 molecules and real-time in situ growth monitoring by photoluminescence (PL) to determine limits for forming ultrathin 2D layers. We characterize the 2D growth stages, following the changing PL intensity-time profiles, by combining structural, optical, morphological, and compositional characterizations. Moreover, from quantitative X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis on 2D/3D bilayer films, we estimate the smallest width of a 2D cover that we can grow to be <5 nm, roughly the limit for efficient tunneling through a (semi)conjugated organic barrier. We also find that, besides protecting the 3D against ambient humidity-induced degradation, the ultrathin 2D-on-3D film also aids self-repair following photodamage.

Investigation of the photovoltaic efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells using transition metal (Cu, Mo, and Ni)-doped 2D SnS2 nanoflakes counter-electrodes

Investigation of the photovoltaic efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells using transition metal (Cu, Mo, and Ni)-doped 2D SnS2 nanoflakes counter-electrodes

Preface

Green energy refers to energy that can be directly used in production and life. It includes nuclear energy and renewable energy. With the continuous growth of energy demand and the increasing awareness of environmental protection in the countries around the world, it is urgent and imperative to establish a green energy innovation research and development, promotion and application system, and electricity will play a huge role in the development of green energy.2023 2nd International Conference on Green Energy and Power Systems (ICGEPS 2023) was held virtually under such a background in Changsha, China on January 6th to 8th, 2023. The aim of the symposium was to provide an opportunity for international experts, academics, researchers, practitioners and students working in the areas of green energy and power system to exchange information on the R&D and commercialization of green energy and power system. New developments, concepts, future research trends and potential commercialization areas were also discussed.The topics covered in the proceedings of ICGEPS 2023 are as follows: Power Systems and Its Automation, Measurement Technology and Instrumentation, Sensors and Micro Machines, Clean Energy Technology, Sustainable Coal Utilization and Clean Coal Technology, etc. Approximately 100 experts and scholars from almost 10 countries participated in the conference. The conference featured keynote speeches, oral presentations, and poster presentations.During the keynote speech part, three well-known professors delivered expertise lectures by imparting the latest findings from their respective research domains. Among them, Prof. Chong Kok Keong from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia addressed a keynote speech on Performance Analyses of Photovoltaic Module under Different Spectral Irradiances by Considering both Photonic and Electrical Characteristics. The solar spectral irradiance varies significantly for different locations and time due to latitude, humidity, cosine effect of incident sunlight, etc. To predict the actual performance of photovoltaic module under local climate conditions, he and his team proposed a methodology to compute the power-conversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells based upon indoor measurement with a solar simulator, the measured local solar spectrum, and making use of both optical and electrical factors. It was a wonderful opportunity for all the participants to interact with the experts and specialists to get their advice or suggestions.We would like to express our gratitude to all the participants for their presentations and discussions, which made the conference very successful indeed. We are also grateful to the Conference Chair, the Program Committee Chair, the Publication Chair, the Organizing Committee, and the Technical Program Committees for their fruitful work. We would like to express our thanks to all the authors for their time and genuine efforts, and to the reviewers for their fruitful comments during the preparation of this volume.The Committee of ICGEPS 2023List of Committee Member is available in this pdf.

Performance analysis and selective emitter design for an efficient concentrated solar thermophotovoltaic system based on cavity-structured absorber and high-bandgap cell

In order to break through the limitation of solar photovoltaic (PV) cell efficiency, this study proposes a concentrated solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) system based on cavity-structured absorber, which can reshape the solar spectrum to match PV cell. An energy-balance model of the system is established for performance analysis, indicating that the theoretical power generation efficiency of system can reach 52.25% when using ideal selective emitter to match Si cell with high bandgap. The efficiency of STPV system using Si cell is 12–13 percentage points higher than that using low-bandgap cells such as GaSb. Furthermore, a metamaterial selective emitter is designed based on Ta and Al2O3 to match the high-bandgap Si cell for the first time, the simulation method is also verified by comparison with previous studies. The concentrated STPV system which based on Si cell achieves an efficiency of 37.18% with the designed selective emitter. The available proportion of spectrum for Si cell increases from 16.52% to 72.69% through reshaping blackbody radiation by designed selective emitter. The results of this study point out that using cavity-structured absorber and metamaterial selective emitter with high-bandgap PV cell is an effective STPV conversion path with the advantages of simple structure and high theoretical efficiency. It provides reference and inspiration for the application of STPV system.

Singlet Fission Driven by Excited‐State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (ESIPT+SF): A (TD)DFT Study

AbstractSinglet fission is a photophysical process able to generate two triplet excitons after the absorption of one high‐energy photon. Although this process is expected to boost the efficiency of photovoltaic cells, the instability of all known singlet fission materials hindered its implementation in any practical device. In order to overcome this limitation, we present a novel photophysical process that combines excited‐state intramolecular proton transfer and singlet fission (ESIPT+SF). Together with the suggested mechanism, this study provides a computational analysis identifying possible ESIPT+SF materials.

THEORETICAL STUDY OF NEW CANDIDATE ORGANIC MATERIALS FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC APPLICATIONS

Our work consists of a theoretical prediction, through DFT and TD-DFT methods, of the electronic and optical properties of six conjugated organic compounds used as electron donor materials in BHJ solar cells, of which PCBM is the acceptor material. This study is necessary to discuss the effect of substituents (donor units) on the different properties of these compounds, and to predict promising materials in organic solar cells using the AMPS-1D simulation software. The results obtained show that all the molecules have good geometric, electronic and optical properties, thus showing an increase in the power conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cells based on these materials, which reaches a value of 17% for the molecule P-Eth-TEdotT-A.

Self-recovering passive cooling utilizing endothermic reaction of NH4NO3/H2O driven by water sorption for photovoltaic cell

Power efficiency of photovoltaic cell is significantly affected by the cell temperature. Here, a self-recovering passive cooling unit is developed. The water-saturated zeolite 13X is coated on the back side of photovoltaic cell, and ammonium nitrate is dispersed as a layer to form a thin film. When heat is supplied, water is desorbed from zeolite 13X (latent cooling), and dissolves ammonium nitrate to induce endothermic reaction cooling. It is a reversible process that recovers itself at night. The unit works on the basis that the water sorption performance of porous materials is inversely proportional to temperature, and the solubility of endothermic reaction pairs increases proportionally with temperature. The average temperature of photovoltaic cell can be reduced by 15.1 °C, and the cooling energy density reaches 2,876 kJ/kg with average cooling power of 403 W/m2. We show that highly efficient passive cooling comprising inexpensive materials for photovoltaic cell could be achieved.

An Ortho-Bisalkyloxylated Benzene-Based Fully Non-fused Electron Acceptor for Efficient Organic Photovoltaic Cells.

To develop the low-cost nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs), two fully non-fused NFAs (TBT-2 and TBT-6) with ortho-bis((2-ethylhexyl)oxy)benzene unit and different side chains onto thiophene-bridges are synthesized through highly efficient synthetic procedures. Both acceptors show good planarity, low optical gaps (≈1.51eV), and deep highest occupied molecular orbital levels (≤-5.77eV). More importantly, the single-crystal structure of TBT-2 shows compact molecular arrangement due to the existence of intramolecular interactions between adjacent aromatic units and strong π-π stacking between intermolecular terminal groups. When the two acceptors are fabricated organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells by combining with a wide optical gap polymer donor, the TBT-6 with strong crystallization forms large domain sizes in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) blend. As a result, the TBT-6-based OPV cell shows a low power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.53%. In contrast, the TBT-2 with proper crystallization facilitates morphological optimization in the BHJ blend. Consequently, the TBT-2-based OPV cell gives an outstanding PCE of 13.25%, which is one of the best values among OPV cells with similar optical gaps. Overall, this work provides a practical molecular design strategy for developing high-performance and low-cost electron acceptors.

Electrical and optical parameters optimization and interface engineering for efficiency improvement of double CIGS absorber based solar cell

In this paper, we present a numerical simulation of double CIGS absorber based solar cell to enhance solar cell performance. The performance characteristics such as open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current density (Jsc), fill factor (FF) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) were quantitatively analyzed using SCAPS-1D software. Ultrathin WSSe is used as buffer layer due to low reflectance and high bandgap which are favorable for photon transmission from front side to CIGS absorber layer. Optimization of energy bandgap of both CIGS absorbers layer has been done by varying the gallium content in Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 structure. The output characteristics measured here consist of the recombination velocity (S) at the WSSe/ Cu(In0.6Ga0.4)Se2 interface and doping concentration of the buffer and absorber layer. The PCE of double CIGS absorber based solar cell with gallium (Ga) content x=0.4 of Cu(In0.6Ga0.4)Se2 layer along with Ga content x=0.7 of Cu(In0.3Ga0.7)Se2 layer represents the record efficiency of 29 %. The results reveal that, it is possible to achieve PCE to 29 % and beyond and provide a promising solution towards the fabrication of highly efficient thin film CIGS photovoltaic cell.

A Novel Hybrid Maximum Power Point Tracking Technique for PV System under Complex Partial Shading Conditions in Campus Microgrid

Solar generation has become increasingly important in grid applications. In order to improve the energy efficiency of the photovoltaic array (PV), factors such as temperature, nonlinear characteristics, and partial shadow conditions (PSCs) of the PV must be fully considered. An excellent maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control strategy can effectively improve the energy utilization efficiency of photovoltaic cells and provide strong support for the construction of smart campuses in terms of environmental protection and energy saving. A traditional method such as Perturb &amp; Observe (P&amp;O) and incremental conductance (INC) will fall into the local maximum power point (LMPP). In the past decade, researchers have proposed many MPPT methods to solve the difficulties of the PV system. However, they have failed to fully consider dynamic changes in irradiance conditions. Changes in the irradiance of photovoltaic arrays can lead to an extension of the convergence time and an increase in the oscillation amplitude. Many current MPPT methods have shortcomings such as requiring a long convergence time, large oscillation amplitude, and being prone to falling into LMPP. In order to reduce the oscillation amplitude and improve the convergence speed, a novel Multi-strategy Improved Tuna Swarm Optimization hybrid INC (ITSO-INC) method is introduced in this article. This strategy involves improving the Tuna Swarm Optimization (TSO) through Levy Flight and a linear weight coefficient. In addition, the INC method is added in the later stage to improve the accuracy of MPPT tracking. The proposed algorithm can extract the global maximum power point under different partial shading. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, the proposed method was compared with other metaheuristic algorithms such as Cuckoo Search (CS) and TSO. The proposed ITSO-INC technique was tested over four different patterns of partial shading conditions. Modulation was performed by tracking the sudden change in the shadow pattern of the MPP. These simulation results confirm that the proposed method has fast convergence, high accuracy, zero steady state oscillation, and a rapid response to dynamic change.

Analysis and Selection of the Optimal Performance Control Method for Solar Cell Dc Converters

Solar energy is one of the most promising sources of energy to meet the ever-increasing demand for electricity in the world. But due to the low efficiency of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and the dependence of their performance on environmental conditions, it is necessary to monitor the maximum power point (MPP) of the photovoltaic system. Hence, various maximum power point tracking methods are implemented with photovoltaic systems, but the design of the DC/DC converter is one of the main problems with maximum power point tracking methods. This article compares two different DC/DC converters for solar power conversion. The two converters are a buck converter and a buck-boost converter. The maximum power point tracking algorithm is designed to calculate battery voltage, PV array current, PV array voltage, PV array power, and output power. It has been observed that the buck-boost converter is the best converter for converting solar energy. The two circuits are modeled in MATLAB/Simulink R2021a. By means of the proposed control methods, there is a significant increase in the generation of electrical energy by photovoltaic panels. In the presented work, the information and control system of a low-power solar power plant is investigated. A large amount of converted electrical energy cannot be used by the consumer due to various losses in the photovoltaic system. To improve the efficiency of using the generated electricity, a promising algorithm was developed that is responsible for the operation of the station control unit. As a result, the quality of the solar installation was significantly improved and energy production for the consumer's power supply was increased. The simulation results will give future researchers a clear concept for predicting the behavior of the mentioned converters and designing the most efficient converter specified for solar MPPT.

EFFICIENCY ENHANCEMENT OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CELLS USING METAMATERIALS ABSORBING SCREEN

This paper proposes a novel technique for the efficiency enhancement of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells using metamaterials absorbing screens. This kind of engineered material comprises resonant metallic rings that are printed on a host low-loss dielectric substance and made periodic in a two-dimensional lattice. The absorbing screen has been carefully designed, and its retrieved effective constitutive parameters, effective electric permittivity ϵeff and effective magnetic permeability µeff, are integrated within a numerically modelled amorphous-Silicon-based PV solar cell structure as an impedance matching layer. Such arrangement will greatly achieve matching between the effective impedance of the composite solar cell structure and free-space impedance and will result in higher photons absorption through the metamaterials anti-reflective screen. Numerical full-wave electromagnetic simulations are carried out using CST Microwave Studio for the design of a metamaterial absorbing screen. Due to the large computational resources required, COMSOL Multiphysics was adopted in the design and analysis of the composite structure comprising a two-dimensional PV solar cells layer. Based on the numerical results, both optical and electric characteristics of the PV solar cell structure were enhanced with the use of a metamaterial layer. Moreover, efficiency enhancement by 5% was permissible, in which efficiency reached 12% with the use of metamaterials as compared to the efficiency of the classical PV cells of 7%. The obtained results are very promising, and the potential integration of metamaterials in commercial PV solar cells will show significant advancement in efficiency enhancement of PV cells and realization of smart PV solar cells with the consideration of additional features from metamaterials.

Short bandgap of porphyrin molecules (Py) filled in a semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (Py@NT17) for highly efficient organic photovoltaic cells

In this paper, the porphyrin (Py) molecule, which is filled in the semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) known as CNT17, is investigated. We have calculated the optoelectronic characteristics of two configurations of the hybrid system with a single Py molecule filled into CNT17 (Py@CNT17 and Py2@CNT17) using density functional theory (DFT). According to the investigation’s findings, a charge transfer occurred between the Py molecules and the CNT17 nanotube, confirming the stability of the structure. As determined by the electronic calculation, we discovered that the rise in the fermi energy position of CNT17 after encapsulation, suggests a CT connection between Py and CNT17.

Experimental investigations of the microscale concentrated photovoltaic/thermal system based on a solar parabolic trough concentrator

The world’s electricity generation from photovoltaic systems has been growing significantly for the last two decades. Nowadays, one of the most interesting trends in the conversion of solar radiation is the use of concentrating solar power collectors. Among other well-known technologies, quite a new solution is concentrated photovoltaic thermal installations, which use photovoltaic panels as a power converter. This paper presents the experimental works carried out on the prototypical micro-scale parabolic-through solar concentrator equipped with monocrystalline silicon solar cells located on the hexagonal receiver tube. The main goal of these investigations was to determine the possibility of enhancing the efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells by placing them under concentrated solar radiation. Obtained results showed, that the maximum power of tested solar cells increased approx. 29% from 14.40 ±0.50We to 18.60 ±0.60We using concentrated sunlight in comparison to efficiency measured in direct sunlight. It was demonstrated that the use of solar radiation concentrators is justified in the case of solar installations, even with low concentration ratio factors.