Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells最新文献

{"title":"Analysis of solar thermal collector with S-shaped ribs via energy, exergy, economic, and environmental (4E) approaches","authors":"Khushmeet Kumar , Sashank Thapa , Sushil Kumar , Deoraj Prajapati , Sushant Samir , Daeho Lee , Raj Kumar , Tej Singh","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113743","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113743","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The current research examined the energy, exergy, economic, and environmental performance of a solar thermal collector (STC) featuring S-shape type ribs (SSTR) on its absorber plate. The proposed design aims to enhance energy utilization through optimized roughness parameters, minimizing pressure losses while maximizing heat transfer efficiency. The analytical model used in the study evaluates the exergetic efficiency (<span><math><mrow><msub><mi>η</mi><mrow><mi>E</mi><mi>X</mi><mi>G</mi><mi>Y</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span>) and its dependency on design variables. In the experiments, SSTR were mounted on absorber plates with parameters relative roughness height <span><math><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><msub><mi>e</mi><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>I</mi><mi>B</mi></mrow></msub><mo>/</mo><msub><mi>D</mi><mrow><mi>H</mi><mi>Y</mi></mrow></msub></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></math></span> ranging from 0.022 to 0.054, relative rib pitch (<span><math><mrow><msub><mi>P</mi><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>I</mi><mi>B</mi></mrow></msub><mo>/</mo><msub><mi>e</mi><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>I</mi><mi>B</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span>) ranging from 4 to 16, relative roughness width (<span><math><mrow><msub><mi>W</mi><mi>D</mi></msub><mo>/</mo><msub><mi>w</mi><mrow><mi>S</mi><mi>R</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span>) ranging from 1 to 4, and arc angle (<span><math><mrow><msub><mi>α</mi><mrow><mi>A</mi><mi>R</mi><mi>C</mi></mrow></msub><mo>)</mo></mrow></math></span> ranging from 30° to 75°. The best <span><math><mrow><msub><mi>η</mi><mrow><mi>E</mi><mi>X</mi><mi>G</mi><mi>Y</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span> for the system is obtained for Reynolds number (<span><math><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>e</mi></mrow></math></span>) between 2500 and 7500. The highest <span><math><mrow><msub><mi>η</mi><mrow><mi>E</mi><mi>X</mi><mi>G</mi><mi>Y</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span> of 1.87 % for SSTR-STC is achieved for <span><math><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>e</mi></mrow></math></span> of 6000 at <span><math><mrow><msub><mi>e</mi><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>I</mi><mi>B</mi></mrow></msub><mo>/</mo><msub><mi>D</mi><mrow><mi>H</mi><mi>Y</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span> = 0.043, <span><math><mrow><msub><mi>P</mi><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>I</mi><mi>B</mi></mrow></msub><mo>/</mo><msub><mi>e</mi><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>I</mi><mi>B</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span> = 8, <span><math><mrow><msub><mi>W</mi><mi>D</mi></msub><mo>/</mo><msub><mi>w</mi><mrow><mi>S</mi><mi>R</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span> = 3, <span><math><mrow><msub><mi>α</mi><mrow><mi>A</mi><mi>R</mi><mi>C</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></math></span> = 60°, and the temperature rise parameter (<span><math><mrow><mrow><mo>Δ</mo><mi>T</mi><mo>/</mo><msub><mi>I</mi><mrow><mi>S</mi><mi>R</mi></mrow></msub></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></math></span> of 0.0122 <span><math><mrow><mi>K</mi><msup><mi>m</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>/</mo><mi>W</mi></mrow></math></span>. These findings confirm the technical and financial viability of using SSTR-based solar col","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 113743"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167212","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":"Multifunctional phase change gel coating with solar thermal conversion, UV detection and antibacterial property","authors":"Xianyang Chen,&nbsp;Yue Yin,&nbsp;Yeshen Hou,&nbsp;Pengcheng Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113744","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113744","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the increasing popularity of wearable devices, developing multifunctional wearable devices using phase change materials for personal thermal management is of great significance for improving personal comfort. In this work, multifunctional phase change gel coating with solar thermal conversion, UV detection and antibacterial property is proposed. Biomass myristic acid is confined by the cross-linking network of styrene ethylene butylene styrene to fabricate the phase change material gels (PCMGs) with thermal storage capacity. Solar absorbing Te in PCMG can efficiently realize solar-thermal convertion. UV-responsive photochromic capsules in PCMG can detect UV intensity in the environment. Silver nanorods in PCMG have excellent antibacterial properties to provide additional security. Combining these advantages, multifunctional phase change gel coatings prepared by screen printing possess excellent wearable performances.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 113744"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167213","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":"4E assessment and optimization of conical solar still performance: A study on innovative dual-tray basins combined with truncated conical external reflectors","authors":"Mohammed El Hadi Attia ,&nbsp;K. Harby ,&nbsp;Yaser H. Alahmadi ,&nbsp;Majdi Amin ,&nbsp;Mohamed Abdelgaied","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113746","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113746","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work aims to improve the productivity and efficiency of conical solar stills by introducing an innovative design that implements dual-tray basins combined with truncated cone external reflectors within the water basins. In this design, a secondary water basin with a smaller diameter is added alongside the primary distillation basin. In addition, truncated cone reflectors were used around the solar still to increase the concentration of solar radiation on the expanded evaporative surface. Three conical distillers were constructed and tested to evaluate the performance of the proposed designs. The first was a traditional conical distiller (TCSD) without any modifications, the second used dual-tray basins (TSD-DTB), and the third used dual-tray basins combined with truncated cone external reflectors (TSD-DTB&amp;TCR. The findings indicated that the use of TSD-DTB and TSD-DTB&amp;TCR increased water production by 29.31 % and 73.15 %, respectively. Additionally, the productivity of TSD-DTB&amp;TCR was 33.91 % higher than that of TSD-DTB. Furthermore, the exergy efficiency of TSD-DTB and TSD-DTB&amp;TCR improved by 62.83 % and 180.73 %, respectively. The yield cost of TSD-DTB&amp;TCR decreased by 20.95 % and 45.23 % compared to TSD-DTB and TCSD respectively. The payback time of TSD-DTB&amp;TCR was reduced by 10.01 % and 28.94 % compared with TSD-DTB and TCSD, respectively. Finally, the TSD-DTB&amp;TCR can generate $37.27 in carbon credits, which is 78.27 % and 35.00 % higher than those of TCSD and TSD-DTB, respectively.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 113746"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167211","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":"Record open-circuit voltage of 0.85 V via indium-content engineering in efficient CuInS2 solar cells","authors":"Wenbo Cao ,&nbsp;Chong Chen ,&nbsp;Mingtai Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113747","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113747","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>CuInS₂ is a promising light-harvesting material for solar cells due to its long-term stability, suitable bandgap and favorable optical absorption coefficient. Here, solar cells with In-rich CuInS₂ light-active layer are fabricated by increasing the feed ratio in precursor solution. The CuAu phases within chalcopyrite CuInS₂ films are inhibited with increased In molar ratio, leading to a better quality of CuInS₂ films as well as reduction in charge recombination centers in solar cells. Moreover, the band alignment of CuInS₂/Spiro-OMeTAD interface is adjusted by increased In molar ratio, and the charge carriers are effectively separated at the CuInS₂/Spiro-OMeTAD interface due to the lower valence band level of In-rich CuInS₂ films. These improvements result in a planar CuInS₂ solar cell with an efficiency of 7.66% and an open-circuit voltage reached 0.85 V. The In-rich CuInS₂ devices exhibit the lower voltage loss, which enhances the potential for high-efficiency solar cells.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113747"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144154815","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":"Performance prediction of tubular solar air heater with finned semi-Cylindrical absorber and swirl flow using Kolmogorov-Arnold networks and Walrus Optimizer","authors":"Emad M.S. El-Said ,&nbsp;Shady Y. El-Mashad ,&nbsp;Karrar A. Hammoodi ,&nbsp;Abdelghani Dahou ,&nbsp;Mohamed Abd Elaziz ,&nbsp;Ghada A. Elhendawy ,&nbsp;Hamed R. El-Tahan ,&nbsp;Ammar Elsheikh","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113726","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113726","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, a tubular solar air heater with swirl-flow and find absorber supported by radial and longitudinal fins (SAH) was used to improve thermohydraulic performance. The suggested SAH has been compared to the plain duct SAH without fins at a typical air flow rate of 0.01–0.050 kg/s. The results of this study show that radial fins improve SAH performance characteristics when compared to a plain heater or a heater with longitudinal fins. Furthermore, increasing the number of radial fins and airflow rate improves SAH performance. SAH with five radial fins and an airflow rate of 0.050 kg/s achieves maximum thermal and thermohydraulic performance. The experimental analysis showed that the pressure loss in the proposed SAH with swirl tubes increases by 2.64 % and 16.44 % for AMFR 0.010 kg/s and 0.030 kg/s, respectively. Additionally, radial fins record the highest-pressure loss values, with an increase in pressure loss of almost 11.97 % with maximum average temperature difference about 9.75 °C. Also, this study also demonstrates the effectiveness of various Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KAN) models combined with optimization algorithms in predicting the outlet temperature and pressure loss of the investigated heater. The analysis, based on experimental field data, uses five optimization techniques: KAN-CGO (Chaos Game Optimization), KAN-LASHDE (Lagrangian Adaptive Sheepdog Differential Evolution), KAN-AOA (Arithmetic Optimization Algorithm), KAN-HHO (Harris Hawks Optimizer), and KAN-WO (Walrus Optimizer). The KAN-WO model achieved an RMSE of 0.7557, demonstrating that its predictions closely match the experimental data. So, the KAN-WO model emerges as the most reliable for predicting outlet temperature and pressure loss, due to its superior performance, consistency, stability, and ability to generalize.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113726"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144138140","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":"Contactless characterization of polarity boundary recombination on silicon heterojunction back contact solar cells","authors":"Qiao Su ,&nbsp;Hao Lin ,&nbsp;Genshun Wang ,&nbsp;Mengjie Xu ,&nbsp;Jiayu Duan ,&nbsp;Xiaoyu Deng ,&nbsp;Hua Wu ,&nbsp;Tingting Wang ,&nbsp;Guang Han ,&nbsp;Chaowei Xue ,&nbsp;Xixiang Xu ,&nbsp;Pingqi Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113738","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113738","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Silicon heterojunction back contact (HBC) solar cell has an apparent advantage in power conversion efficiency (PCE) due to the efficient surface passivation and the avoided electrode shading. However, such configuration brings an unprecedented carrier recombination loss at the polarity boundary (PB) of selective contacts. PB recombination can make the ideality factor at maximum power point (MPP) evidently exceed 1, resulting in lower pseudo fill factors and PCE. Conventional characterization is confined to electrical contact, not applicable to the unformed cells. Here, a contactless method based on regional minority carrier lifetime measurement is provided, with the monitoring cell comprising separated regions of hole-selective contact (HSC), electron-selective contact (ESC), Gap and HSC + Gap. Its validity and reliability are demonstrated. This research holds guiding significance in quantitatively evaluating PB effect of HBC solar cells.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113738"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144138141","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":"Review of intrinsic vs. extrinsic recombination in germanium thermophotovoltaic converters","authors":"Pablo Martín,&nbsp;Aitana Cano,&nbsp;Iván García,&nbsp;Ignacio Rey-Stolle","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113741","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113741","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Germanium thermophotovoltaic converters (TPV) can be a cost-effective alternative for the introduction of thermal batteries in the electricity storage market. However, at the high irradiances associated with this application and for indirect band-gap semiconductors such as Ge, the impact of Auger recombination is usually presented as an unavoidable efficiency limiting factor. In this work, we challenge this idea by revisiting the relative weight of the different intrinsic and extrinsic recombination mechanisms in Ge. To this end we summarize the literature about reported lifetimes in Ge and analyze the impact of radiative, Auger, and Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination on them. SILVACO TCAD is used to simulate the contribution of each recombination mechanism (including surface recombination) on the dark saturation currents of three Ge-based TPV converters manufactured on substrates with different dopant concentrations (<em>N</em>_<em>B</em> = 3 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³, <em>N</em>_<em>B</em> = 1 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻³, <em>N</em>_<em>B</em> = 1 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻³) under high irradiance conditions (<em>J</em>_<em>SC</em>∼5 A/cm²). This analysis shows that the role of recombination in the bulk of the semiconductor is limited in current Ge, even for devices with substrate dopant concentrations <em>N</em>_<em>B</em> = 3 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³. This data is also used to estimate the impact of each recombination mechanism on experimental J-V curves previously reported for Ge-based TPV converters. This second analysis confirms that the cell performance barely increases after improving SRH bulk lifetimes. Instead, the impact of surface recombination is still critical, especially in medium-doped and lightly-doped devices, where an outstanding increase in open circuit voltage (<em>V</em>_<em>OC</em>) and fill factor (<em>FF</em>) are observed, leading to potential TPV efficiencies over 30 %.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113741"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144138142","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":"Pushing the boundaries: Challenges that arise in manufacturing and designing photovoltaic modules for new application areas","authors":"Aksel Kaan Öz,&nbsp;Sebastian Neven-du Mont,&nbsp;Veronika Nikitina,&nbsp;Pascal Romer,&nbsp;Daniel von Kutzleben,&nbsp;Najwa Abdel Latif,&nbsp;Jacob Forster,&nbsp;Christine Wellens,&nbsp;Martin Heinrich,&nbsp;Dirk Holger Neuhaus","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113735","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113735","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work discusses challenges arising from the trends in the photovoltaic (PV) market, for new cell types and for modules used for special applications such as vehicle-integrated photovoltaic (VIPV), building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV), and road-integrated photovoltaic (RIPV). In contrast to standard modules, modules for new applications often must fulfill additional requirements, and the sensitivity of new cell types makes the situation not easier. These requirements include aesthetical look, dealing with 3D curved shapes, shading resilience and mitigating sun reflectance of modules used as noise barriers on highways etc. To meet these points and to handle the new cell technologies the bill of materials (BOM) also may need to be adjusted. With the shift in solar cells from PERC to more efficient Tandem cells, the manufacturing process of modules requires adaptation of process parameters. Our study demonstrates that PERC cells can be laminated at temperatures up to 180 °C in a short duration process. In contrast, Perovskite Si-tandem cells (PVST) are more sensitive to high temperatures, necessitating the use of low-temperature lamination processes. We have developed an in-house simulation tool that helps to optimize the process parameters by modeling the temperature and gel-content profile in the module during the lamination process. This research aims to show the challenges of the new technologies and focuses on possible solutions in terms of their manufacturing process and design phase.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113735"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144138139","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":"Corrosion behaviour of the 347H stainless steel in molten NaCl-KCl-AlCl3 salts containing aluminum at 500 °C","authors":"Fangyuan Guo ,&nbsp;Yimin Xu ,&nbsp;Jia Li ,&nbsp;Hao Gu ,&nbsp;Zhongfeng Tang ,&nbsp;Liuping Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113715","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113715","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The strong corrosiveness of the molten NaCl-KCl-AlCl₃ (NKA) salt limits its application as a heat transfer and storage fluid for the next-generation concentrated solar power. In this job, the molten NKA salt was purified with Al sheet, with an excessive amount of Al dissolved in the molten NKA salts. The compatibility of the 347H stainless steel in NKA salts containing aluminum was investigated at 500 °C using static corrosion method. The two-step weight loss of the corroded 347H stainless steel was observed, and the corrosion rate was 116.7 μm/a. The specimens were corroded uniformly. During the first 336 h, 347H stainless steel had a heavy weight loss because of the oxidation and dissolution of Fe and Cr from the 347H stainless steel. After 336 h, the 347H stainless steel's corrosion rate declined as a thick corrosion product layer formed on the surface. This result enriches the molten salt corrosion database and provides a reference for the application of NKA salts as the heat transfer fluid and thermal energy storage media.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"291 ","pages":"Article 113715"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144138313","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":"Spatially resolved modulus measurements of photovoltaic encapsulation materials using cross-sectional nano-indentation","authors":"Stefan Mitterhofer ,&nbsp;Soshana Smith ,&nbsp;Ashlee Aiello ,&nbsp;Karissa Jensen ,&nbsp;Stephanie Moffitt ,&nbsp;Xiaohong Gu","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113749","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113749","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Spatially resolved measurement methods are required to investigate the mechanical properties of polymeric packaging materials in photovoltaic modules due to their multilayered structure and possible heterogeneous degradation during their service life. This work presents a comprehensive evaluation of cross-sectional nano-indentation via the continuous stiffness method and its application to three different transparent backsheets and an encapsulant before and after accelerated aging. It lays out the unique challenges for sample preparation, measurement methodology, and data evaluation posed by these two types of samples, as well as possible limitations stemming from their structure and properties. The main issue for backsheets is the structural compliance close to material interfaces, visible in the measured Young’s modulus as a function of indentation depth. However, the method yields reliable results in the bulk of the materials with a thickness as low as 25 μm, with high spatial resolution stemming from the use of a sharp sphero-conical diamond tip. Localized modulus increases can be measured in different layers, corresponding to embrittlement, cracking, and increased fluorescence. The most significant issues for measuring the encapsulant stem from its comparably much lower modulus. We apply a multi-step approach for sample preparation and use a much larger conical flat-head diamond tip. The measured modulus of the encapsulant decreases after ultraviolet exposure in coupons with one type of backsheet, emphasizing the importance of backsheet stability for the durability of the entire module. These results show that the methodology is a valuable tool for characterizing polymers in PV applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 113749"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144135166","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}