Applied Solar Energy最新文献

Antimony (Sb) chalcogenides, particularly antimony selenide (Sb₂Se₃), have gained attention as promising semiconductor materials in order to creat and advancement of competitive solar cells. These materials exhibit a range of desirable qualities, such as excellent absorption rate, ability to modify band gap, and plentiful in the crust of the earth. This article describes an antimony selenide (Sb₂Se₃) absorber based high-efficient thin film solar cell (TFSC) with copper oxide (Cu₂O) as as back surface field (BSF) by dint of Al/ITO/TiO₂/Sb₂Se₃/Cu₂O/Ni heterostructure using SCAPS-1D Simulator. This research entails an in-depth assessment of various physical and electrical characteristics of every solar active semiconductorof TiO₂,Sb₂Se₃, and Cu₂O covering the thickness of each layer, concentration of carrier doping, defect density in the bulk and at the interface, carrier generation rate together with recombination. Initially, the variation in photovoltaic parameters of open circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current density (J_sc), fill factor (FF), power conversion efficiency (PCE), and quantum efficiency (QE) investigated without the BSF layer, followed by a comprehensive analysis on the role of Cu₂O BSF layer for enhancing cell’s performance explored systematically. The proposed heterostructure shows improved PCE of over 32% (which was 21% without BSF) with J_SC of 37.492 mA/cm², V_OC of 1.024 V, and FF of 83.595%. Thus, the utilisation of a heterostructure comprising Sb₂Se₃ absorber and copper oxide Cu₂O BSF layer demonstrates significant promise in the development and production the high-efficiency greenery thin-film solar cells (TFSCs).

The research has been devoted to benefits for heterojunction silicon PV panels application evaluation. Evaluation has been conducted through numerical simulation and field tests in Moscow conditions. During simulation PV array year energy yields for HJT monocrystalline Si panels have been derived for 2013–2018 years using NASA Power initial satellite data on solar radiation daily sums. Experimental investigation has been realized through multicrystalline and HJT panel comparative test using test bed, simulating small off-grid power unit. Specific energy yield of panel (ratio of energy yield for given period of time to the panel peak power) has been chosen as a criterion for panels operation comparison in both cases. The research novelty is concerned with attempt to estimate additional energy, produced due to amorphous silicon layer presence by means of field tests in different weather conditions. Calculation showed no benefits for HJT PV panels. Experimental research showed that up to 5–6 kWh/m²/day solar radiation sum value HJT panel provides 1–20% power output gain relatively multicrystalline panel with maximum gain of 14–16% in range of 2–2.5 kWh/m²/day solar radiation sum values.

Solar energy is one of the most abundant forms of renewable energies for countries located in the tropics like Mauritius. Further interests and initiatives have been observed in recent years to harness solar energy in Mauritius. One way to maximize the capture of solar energy is by considering solar trackers which can be a fundamental part in modern photovoltaic (PV) setups. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of a low-cost solar tracker fitted with an innovative tracking mechanism to harness solar energy in Mauritius. In this study, a low-cost system was designed to harness solar energy efficiently by virtue of a tracking mechanism based on a novel ball-joint system to provide charging power to portable devices even in remote places. An intelligent charging circuitry was incorporated not only to provide power for any connected devices but also to keep the system running in conditions of low sunlight. The efficiency assessment of the solar tracker was conducted on a real scale prototype, which was constructed by considering off-the-shelf materials to keep an overall low manufacturing cost. Test results showed that the innovative tracking mechanism could successfully track the sun path. This contributed to an overall increase in the nominal power generation of the solar tracker, which was found to be around 15 W in contrast to the static panel which was around 10 W. Moreover, the charging duration of the portable devices from the charging unit in the solar tracker was found to be similar when compared to the one corresponding to direct charge from the mains. The developed and tested prototype in this study has shown the benefits of using a solar tracking device to capture and generate solar energy and clean power respectively which could be further developed and refined on a larger scale for mass commercialization as portable power-generating devices.

This article deals with the characterization of photovoltaic (PV) panels using current-voltage (I–V) tracers. It focuses on the realization of a low cost and real-time I–V tracer that uses an inexpensive DC/DC converter, a fixed load and sensors for measuring current and voltage of the PV Panel. Additionally, a data acquisition interface (DAI) is developed to collect real-time PV data under different weather conditions. The developed tracer reduces testing time for PV panel characterization compared with classical methods. In order to evaluate the performance of the developed tracer, we analyze the electrical parameters to which the electronic equipment is exposed and contrasts the advantages of the suggested technique and disadvantages of the classical method of measurement (i.e., using multimers), taking a variety of criteria including accuracy into account. For further validation, we compare the experimental PV characteristics to the simulated PV curves obtained using a single diode model.

Using methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) as an example, the process of complexation of molecular particles from solution at the initial stage of crystallization was studied using calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT). The calculations were carried out taking into account solvents widely used in experiments: dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (N-MP) to analyze the structure and energy of iodoplumbate complexes in the form of simple complex [PbI_mX_n]^{2 – m} and polymeric iodoplumbates ([PbI_mX_n]^{2 – m})_x. Reaction schemes for the formation of MAPbI₃ in DMSO and DMF solvents, as well as in DMF–DMSO and DMF–N–MP binary solvents, are proposed based on the calculated energies. Calculations showed the important role of NH–O hydrogen bonds in the formation of iodoplumbate monomers, as well as the imbalance of the energies of the complexes at several elementary stages of the reaction in various solvents (the formation of [PbI₄X_n]^2– is favorable; the formation of [PbI₅X_n]^3– is slowed down. Mixing a small amount of DMSO with DMF results in a better energy balance and, therefore, potentially better equilibrium in the overall crystallization process, and thus a better quality of the perovskite crystal structure.

This article attempts to assess the radiation resistance of heterostructure silicon solar cells to the effects of 1 MeV electrons and discusses their prospects for power supply of the global low-orbit satellite communication system. The data obtained from this study allow us to identify the most promising types of heterostructure silicon solar cells for use in low-orbit spacecraft. These are n-α-Si:H-(p)c-Si:Ga-p-α-Si:H and n-µc-Si:H-(p)c-Si:Ga-p-α-Si:H solar cells. The degradation in efficiency of these structures was less than 30% by 1 × 10¹⁵ cm^–2 fluence of 1 MeV electrons.

The paper presents data on the study of the kinetics of gas formation from chicken manure under thermophilic conditions. It was shown that the volume of biogas for 30 days in the control variant did not exceed 85 dm³, whereas with the addition of 10 and 20% of the balanced thermophilic methanogenic association as an inoculate was 150 and 180 dm³, respectively, and the methane content in the biogas composition reached up to 70 and 65%, respectively. It was shown that bacteria belonging to the Enterobacteriacea family, as well as some pathogenic bacteria and helminths, were not found in the fermentation system under thermophilic conditions.

This study presents a novel four-layer solar cell design, composed of NiO_x embedded in glass on top of a perovskite layer and SnO₂ substrate. Incident light enters through the glass layer and exits through the substrate into the surrounding air. A novel graded index of the composite layer is proposed where the refractive index varies with the vertical distance from the glass interface. Using the Maple program, we calculate the transmittance, reflectance, and absorbance powers of the proposed solar cells, while examining the influence of different parameters on these powers. Our findings indicate that the transmittance, reflection, and absorption powers are sensitive to changes in layer thickness. Specifically, we observe that the absorbance power approaches unity for longer wavelengths while remaining above 0.7 for shorter wavelengths. Furthermore, we propose integrating this cell into a tandem solar cell configuration, where it can complement another cell by providing support in longer wavelengths and high absorbance in shorter wavelengths.

Food industry being one of the world’s largest energy intensive industries, lack of proper preservation and storage techniques have led to huge amount of food losses and wastage. Dehydration of food and vegetables has been an effective technique of preservation as this reduces post-harvest losses, make them easier to transport, store and can prevent the growth of microbes. Abundant solar energy being available for free of cost, solar drying is desirable in terms of environment friendliness, economic benefits and is compatible for remote locations. Solar dryers optimize this process with efficient utilization of solar energy and provides higher quality products. Different configurations of solar dryers with diverse configurations and applications have been designed and implemented over the years. Based on the difference in supply and utilization of solar energy, the most prominent solar dryer configurations are direct and indirect solar dryers. This work intends to review the features, design and performance of existing direct and indirect solar dryers. Major challenges such as intermittency and unsteady availability of solar energy has been addressed through thermal energy storage by many research studies, which has also been effectively reviewed. Materials used for construction, design constraints, thermal energy storage integration and experimental results have been discussed and tabulated. The review revealed highly efficient solar collectors such as tube type absorber and evacuated tube collectors, solar concentrators employed dryers capable of achieving elevated temperatures, greenhouse and solar tent dryers with huge capacity and novel dryer and collector designs of superior performance. Various integration techniques of different thermal energy storage materials and their enhancement in performance were eminently observed in the review. As a source of technological attributes and constructional features, this review paper intends to aid the development of solar dryers and food preservation employing renewable energy.

This article presents the results of degradation studies and performance changes (for 7 years) of solar panels of a solar photovoltaic plant located in the Pap district of the Namangan region of Uzbekistan using the IEC 61724 standard. The solar photovoltaic plant is located in a zone of sharp continental climate, built from polycrystalline photovoltaic panels and has a power of 130 kW. The analysis of monitoring system data showed that the average degradation rate of solar panels is 0.224%/year, which is comparable to the values obtained by the same method for other power plants with similar characteristics. The degradation value is determined from the slope of the annual temperature-adjusted productivity factor. The annual productivity ratio varies from 75.89 to 93.54%, depending on the season, i.e., the value is higher in spring and summer, lower in autumn and winter, with an average value of 87.22%. The average annual changes in the reference and final generation are 4.12 and 3.67 h, respectively.