Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells最新文献

{"title":"Enhancing phase change energy storage efficiency: Performance optimization of Fibonacci fractal fins under fluctuating heat source","authors":"Fan Ren ,&nbsp;Qibin Li ,&nbsp;Lei Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113859","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113859","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Solar power, though an essential renewable energy source, suffers from intermittency and fluctuations, leading to reduced efficiency in thermal storage systems. This research examines an enhanced three-tube latent heat storage system (TES) incorporating Fibonacci fractal tree-shaped fins, an innovative design developed to optimize heat transfer performance. The results reveal that increasing the fin branching angle significantly improves heat transfer efficiency within the TES system. Furthermore, both the period and amplitude of sinusoidal fluctuating heat sources exert considerable influence on phase change material (PCM) temperature distribution and thermal storage capacity. Through multi-objective optimization employing the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) algorithm, the study determines an optimal system configuration achieving a melting time of 151.18 s and thermal storage capacity of 576.32 kJ. The optimized parameters consist of a 109.99-s sinusoidal period, 12.50 K amplitude, and 102.07°branching angle. The key innovation of this study resides in the synergistic integration of bio-inspired fractal fin structures with advanced multi-objective optimization algorithms, which establishes a novel approach for addressing intermittency challenges in solar thermal energy storage systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113859"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144680579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mn/al/Ce ternary-doped CaO composites for ultra-stable and solar-enhanced calcium looping thermochemical energy storage: Synergistic effects and atomic-level insights","authors":"Qingyang Mei ,&nbsp;Hui Liu ,&nbsp;Jinjia Wei","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113852","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113852","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To address the challenges of structural degradation and low solar absorptivity in calcium-based thermochemical energy storage systems under high-temperature cycling, we propose a novel Mn/Al/Ce ternary-doped CaO composite (Ca10Mn1Al1Ce1) optimized for solar-driven calcium looping applications. Through a sol-gel synthesis strategy, the co-doping strategy synergistically integrates structural stabilization mediated by Ca₂MnO₄/Ca₃Al₂O₆ frameworks, carbonation kinetics enhancement through CeO₂-induced oxygen vacancies, and Mn element doping, significantly improving the material's solar energy absorption performance. The optimized material demonstrates unprecedented cycling stability with only 5.6 % energy density decay over 200 cycles, outperforming pure CaO (73.5 % degradation after 100 cycles). Kinetic analysis reveals accelerated calcination rates enabled by Mn doping, while DFT calculations confirm an 18.3 % reduction in CaCO₃ decomposition energy barriers. Remarkably, the composite achieves a 3.9-fold enhancement in solar absorptivity through synergistic full-spectrum light harvesting. This work establishes a multifunctional doping strategy that simultaneously addresses sintering resistance, solar absorptance, and reaction kinetics, offering a promising pathway for next-generation concentrated solar power plants requiring high-temperature, long-cycle thermochemical energy storage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113852"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144672291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fundamental advantages of multijunction thermophotovoltaic cells","authors":"Richard R. King","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113780","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113780","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper, we examine some basic advantages of multijunction cells used for thermophotovoltaics (TPV), in terms of greater fraction of spectrum used, reduced carrier thermalization losses, and reduced series resistance. We find that increasing the fraction of the thermal spectrum used with tandem TPV cells is important in real-world TPV systems where there are non-ideal optical losses. The lower currents and higher voltages of 2-junction and 4-junction TPV cells modeled here compared to single-junction cells result in substantially lower series resistance losses. Considering one potentially significant disadvantage of series-connected multijunction cells – the need for subcell current matching – we also examine the effect of 2-junction and 4-junction TPV cells on the practical depth of discharge of thermal batteries, and the energy that can be extracted from each thermal charge.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113780"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144653013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Compendium of degradation rates of global photovoltaic (PV) technology: insights from technology, climate and geography","authors":"Kehao Chen,&nbsp;Jian Zuo,&nbsp;Ruidong Chang","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113839","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113839","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The leap in global solar energy deployment has sparked widespread industrial and academic interest in degradation rates of PV technology. Degradation rates significantly impact the PV industry's reliability, financial viability, and sustainability. Due to the recent rapid technology iterations and increase in global deployment, it is necessary to investigate the degradation of PV technologies under long-term outdoor exposure in the last five years. More importantly, it remains unclear how degradation rates of PV technologies evolve, as well as their technological, climatic, and geographical distribution. This study compiles degradation rates by outdoor field tests of PV technologies reported in the literature over the last five years and provides more a nuanced and comprehensive analysis in terms of measurement model, technology, climate, and geography compared to previous compendiums. Results show that globally median degradation rate of PV technology has been 1.00 %/year, with a mean of 1.27 %/year, an increase compared to 2016 and 2013. Degradation rates show various distributions by technology, climate and geography. Rising degradation rates will directly shorten the PV lifespan and reduce the power output, leading to a higher levelized cost of energy and quicker reaching of warranty limits for PV users. Higher degradation rates will force PV technologies to reach end-of-life faster, increasing the potential PV waste stream worldwide.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113839"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144634080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Boron-emitter development for TOPCon c-Si solar cells based on plasma-deposited boron diffusion source and poly-Si(n) passivating contact","authors":"Thibault Schaller ,&nbsp;Ezgi Genç ,&nbsp;Julien Hurni ,&nbsp;Ludovica Lunghi ,&nbsp;Christophe Ballif ,&nbsp;Audrey Morisset ,&nbsp;Franz-Josef Haug","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113808","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113808","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The n-type TOPCon technology is currently the leading approach in the industry. Generally, it involves two high-temperature steps that can result in long cycle times and expensive processes. In this context, we propose a lean manufacturing process based on the successive PECVD-deposition of the front and rear doped layers, followed by a co-annealing step in which front emitter formation and rear passivating contact activation are performed simultaneously. We first investigated the influence of the PECVD process parameters and the thermal budget of the co-annealing step on the active boron concentration profile, the passivation quality, and contact resistivity. Then, we investigated the effect of a drive-in step under O<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mtext>2</mtext></mrow></msub></math></span> environment to reduce the surface concentration and increase the depth of the emitter. Finally, we investigated the compatibility of the rear passivating contact with the drive-in step. The introduction of the drive-in step made it possible to obtain active boron concentration profiles with the desired surface concentration and depth. However, even though we obtained promising results regarding the compatibility of the rear passivating contact with the drive-in step, we observed that further optimization is necessary to avoid blistering of the n-type poly-Si layer and improve the uniformity of the rear passivation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113808"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144631452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Design and implementation of a solar access database for optimizing parking of solar electric vehicles","authors":"Jimin Hong,&nbsp;Yosoon Choi","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113841","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113841","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As environmental concerns continue to grow, solar electric vehicles (SEVs) are increasingly recognized as a promising solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting the use of renewable energy. This study presents the development of an optimal parking environment for SEV charging through the construction of a Solar Access database covering 1388 parking bays at the Daeyeon Campus of Pukyong National University in Korea. The database was visualized using QGIS, and seasonal as well as time-specific variations in Solar Access were analyzed to identify optimal parking locations for different times of the year. In addition, a previously developed mobile application was enhanced to enable users to retrieve information on the most suitable parking space based on their intended parking duration, significantly improving its usability and accessibility. This system offers valuable insights not only for SEV users but also for general drivers, facilitating time-aware parking optimization and contributing foundational data for efficient parking lot planning and management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113841"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144623684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Zinc-tin oxide transparent conductive layers via reactive plasma deposition for silicon heterojunction solar cells","authors":"Zheng Wang ,&nbsp;Xinliang Chen ,&nbsp;Aixin Sun ,&nbsp;Lin Liu ,&nbsp;Yu Chen ,&nbsp;Liyuan Hu ,&nbsp;Dekun Zhang ,&nbsp;Huizhi Ren ,&nbsp;Ying Liu ,&nbsp;Jinchao Shi ,&nbsp;Bo Yu ,&nbsp;Guofu Hou ,&nbsp;Pochuan Yang ,&nbsp;Ying Zhao ,&nbsp;Xiaodan Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113835","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113835","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The escalating scarcity and cost volatility of indium-based transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) critically hinder the sustainable advancement of silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. In order to reduce the use of indium, developing economically friendly and having appropriate work function transparent conductive layers has become a key issue. Here, we report crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells with reactive plasma deposition (RPD) grown Zn_xSn_1-xO transparent conductive thin films at room temperature. Meanwhile, SHJ solar cells with magnetron sputtered ICO (i.e. Ce doped In₂O₃) and reactive plasma deposition grown GZO (i.e. Ga-doped ZnO) transparent conductive layers are compared as references. The optical and electrical properties of Zn_xSn_1-xO thin films with different doping concentrations have been systematically studied. We achieved optimal optoelectronic properties of the thin film-Zn_0.17Sn_0.83O: a low resistivity (5.57 × 10⁻³ Ω cm), a high carrier mobility (27 cm²/V·s) and a proper work function similar to n-type amorphous silicon (4.32 eV). The integration of a 30 nm-Zn_0.17Sn_0.83O buffer layer between magnetron-sputtered ICO and n-a-Si:H exhibits a higher minority carrier lifetime as well as relatively higher <em>Voc</em> because the work function of Zn_0.17Sn_0.83O is similar to that of n-a-Si:H and the interface damage is reduced during the thin-film deposition process. The SHJ solar cell achieved an efficiency of 20.76 % (<em>Voc</em> = 730.48 mV, <em>Jsc</em> = 40.19 mA/cm², <em>FF</em> = 70.51 %). This work highlights RPD-grown Zn_xSn_1-xO transparent conductive layers, and their application as the buffer layer in SHJ solar cells, which will help to promote the development of the SHJ solar cell photovoltaic industry.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113835"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144623767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How the selenium is affecting the physical and electrical properties of ultra-thin CdSeTe/CdTe solar cells","authors":"Mariyam Mukhtar ,&nbsp;Elisa Artegiani ,&nbsp;Sam Machin ,&nbsp;Andrea Gasparotto ,&nbsp;Chiara Liliana Boldrini ,&nbsp;Giorgio Tseberlidis ,&nbsp;Simona Binetti ,&nbsp;Michael Walls ,&nbsp;Alessandro Romeo","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113830","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113830","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The incorporation of selenium into the CdTe has recently enhanced the performance of the solar cells to 23.1 %. The narrower band gap of the CdSeTe/CdTe absorber boosts the short-circuit current density; also, Se introduction increases the carrier's lifetime. Optimizing CdSe_xTe_1-x band-grading is crucial for achieving high-performance CdTe photovoltaics. Another current goal is to reduce the thickness of the absorber to further reduce production costs and environmental impact. Thus, studying the effects of Se introduction in ultra-thin CdTe absorbers is essential. To investigate Se concentration's impact on ultra-thin CdTe, we fabricated CdSeTe/CdTe devices with an absorber thickness of 0.8 μm by depositing different CdSe/CdTe ratios. Our 0.8 μm thick cells have currently achieved an efficiency of 12.8 %, but most important this study shows that Se introduction in ultra-thin CdTe results in structural properties different from those of thicker absorbers, impacting the device performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113830"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144611853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Experimental performance investigation on a gold nanofluid laden spectral beam splitting photovoltaic /thermal system under tropical climate of India","authors":"Sanjay Kumar ,&nbsp;Munna Kumar ,&nbsp;Swapnil Chawrey ,&nbsp;Nishant Kumar ,&nbsp;Manas Ranjan Samantaray ,&nbsp;Nikhil Chander ,&nbsp;Vikas Sharma ,&nbsp;Satyender Singh ,&nbsp;Ranchan Chauhan ,&nbsp;Bachchulal Gupta","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113834","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113834","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In last two decades, a significant performance enhancement of nanofluid-based spectral beam splitting photovoltaic/thermal (SBS-PV/T) system has been reported. However, the studies reported so far, related to nanofluids (as spectral beam splitter) in SBS-PV/T systems, is limited to either laboratory scale experimental testing or simulation work. Further, a handful studies are available in literature to evaluate the thermal performance of these hybrid systems with full-scale prototype over several days of outdoor experiments. Considering that, the present study analyzed real-time performance characteristics of a full-scale nanofluid laden SBS-PV/T system under outdoor condition in tropical climate of India. The study utilised chemically synthesized gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) of sizes∼20–25 nm, to prepare Au plasmonic nanofluids at different mass concentrations. Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) peak of Au-NPs appears at 523 nm, well within the visible region. The outdoor testing revealed a maximum temperature rise of about 66 °C in the nanofluid channel with Au plasmonic nanofluids at mass fraction of 0.0004 wt%, which is about 6 °C higher than DI water under similar operating conditions. Moreover, PV modules with Au plasmonic nanofluids experienced lower surface average temperature as compared to the standalone PV system (i.e., 54 °C against 62 °C). Further, overall thermal efficiency of SBS-PV/T system was about 7 % higher with Au plasmonic nanofluids at mass concentration of 0.0004 wt% over DI water. The study concludes that SBS-PV/T systems, particularly those employing real-time monitoring, hold significant promise for its commercialization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113834"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144604141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancement of thermal performance in parabolic trough solar Collectors: Investigation of three novel receiver configurations using advanced heat transfer fluids","authors":"Justin Byiringiro ,&nbsp;Meriem Chaanaoui ,&nbsp;Belkheir Hammouti","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113833","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113833","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the impact of novel receiver configurations and advanced heat transfer fluids on the thermal performance of parabolic trough solar collector receivers, utilising ANSYS Fluent 2021. Three novel configurations (Configs 2, 3, and 4) are compared to a conventional receiver (Config 1) using three different heat transfer fluids: Syltherm800 (reference), MWCTN-TiO₂/Syltherm800, and liquid sodium. Key parameters analyzed include thermal efficiency, Nusselt number, friction factor, and circumferential temperature difference. The model is validated against experimental results and theoretical correlations. Results indicate that novel configurations outperform the conventional receiver, with Config 3 achieving the highest thermal performance. Among the fluids, liquid sodium exhibits the best thermal performance, followed by MWCTN-TiO₂/Syltherm800. Using Syltherm800, thermal efficiency increases by 4%, the Nusselt number by 92.6%, and the friction factor by 167.38%, while the circumferential temperature difference decreases by 56.69%. Compared to Syltherm800, liquid sodium improves thermal efficiency by 3.4 % and the Nusselt number by 45.6%, while MWCTN-TiO₂/Syltherm800 increases them by 2.97% and 32.8%, respectively. Liquid sodium also reduces the circumferential temperature difference by 80.4%, unlike 36.34% for MWCTN-TiO₂/Syltherm800. Additionally, MWCTN-TiO₂/Syltherm800 increases the friction factor by 34%, whereas liquid sodium reduces it by 38.3%. These findings highlight the effectiveness of turbulators in enhancing parabolic trough solar collector performance and demonstrate the advantage of newly developed heat transfer fluids in minimizing the circumferential temperature difference, thereby reducing receiver thermal stresses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"293 ","pages":"Article 113833"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144604140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}