Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells最新文献

{"title":"Thermal properties and structural evolution of Na2SO4-MgSO4 eutectic molten salts for large-scale energy storage: Unveiling mechanisms through deep potential molecular dynamics","authors":"Xianqing Liu ,&nbsp;Fochao Huang ,&nbsp;Fei Liang ,&nbsp;Wenshuo Liang ,&nbsp;Shule Liu ,&nbsp;Gechuanqi Pan ,&nbsp;Jing Ding ,&nbsp;Jianfeng Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113505","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113505","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The physical and transport properties of molten salts are critical for optimizing and ensuring the sustained efficient operation of large-scale molten salt energy storage systems. This study presents a deep potential (DP) model based on density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the thermophysical properties and microstructural evolution of Na₂SO₄-MgSO₄ eutectic molten salts. The DP function has been further optimized through supplementary training with DP-GEN on complex microstructures, enabling it to capture the microstructural features with the accuracy of DFT. The findings indicate that the sulfate ion microstructure remains stable and unaffected by temperature, consistently retaining a tetrahedral configuration across the examined temperature range. Analysis of microstructural evolution reveals that increasing temperatures induce greater disorder within the Na₂SO₄-MgSO₄ system, resulting in a more loosely packed microstructure and a reduction in coordination number. Furthermore, Mg ions encounter higher energy barriers compared to Na ions, which leads to more restricted mobility within the system, as evidenced by the significantly lower self-diffusion coefficient of Mg ions in contrast to that of Na ions. The thermophysical properties of the Na₂SO₄-MgSO₄ eutectic molten salt exhibit a characteristic negative temperature dependence, with calculated density and specific heat demonstrating deviations from experimental data of 1.7 % and 3.2 %, respectively. This research aims to provide theoretical insights that will facilitate advancements in the application of sulfate molten salts for large-scale energy storage systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113505"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143445607","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":"Unlocking the potential of carrier-selective contacts: Key insights for designing c-Si solar cells with efficiency beyond 28 %","authors":"Paul Procel-Moya,&nbsp;Yifeng Zhao,&nbsp;Olindo Isabella","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113504","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113504","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells are rapidly establishing new efficiency frontiers, with front/back-contacted (FBC) designs now exceeding 26.8 % power conversion efficiency (PCE) and interdigitated back-contacted (IBC) cells surger limitepassing 27 %. This progress is driving a shift from traditional FBC PERC architectures to high-performance TOPCon, SHJ, and IBC configurations, with carrier-selective contacts (CSCs) at the core of these breakthroughs. In this work, we identify three critical factors underpinning CSC effectiveness: the work function of contact layers, energy barriers at heterointerfaces, and energy alignment across the stack of layers forming the CSC. By using advanced numerical simulations, we establish a framework for evaluating and optimizing CSC designs, including state-of-the-art poly-Si, SHJ, and dopant-free structures. We also introduce novel architectures based on TCO materials with potentially simpler manufacturing processes. Our simulations reveal that advanced FBC structures, can reach PCEs up to 28 % deploying localized CSCs architecture. In optimized IBC configurations, efficiencies as high as 28.64 % are achievable. For both, FBC and IBC configurations patterning limitations remain a barrier to theoretical efficiency peaks. Future advances in precision patterning could further close this gap, pushing c-Si solar cells closer to their intrinsic limits. This study provides a roadmap for high-efficiency CSC integration in next-generation c-Si solar cells, establishing pathways to achieve performance over 28 % and accelerating the evolution of photovoltaic technology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113504"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143427831","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":"Efficiency enhancement in 4T perovskite/Si tandem solar cell by charge extraction management","authors":"Salar Moeini ,&nbsp;Mina Noori ,&nbsp;Amin Abbasiyan","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113510","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113510","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High power conversion efficiency in 4-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells depends on minimizing optical losses and enhancing charge extraction in both sub-cells. Here, partially passivated nanorods with hexagonal and honeycomb lattice patterns are employed, for the first time as an electron-transporting layer in the top cell. This leads to compensation of the resistive losses and improves the charge extraction process which results in the enhancement of the fill factor while preserving V_oc. Also, interdigitated back contact has been implemented in the bottom cell to eliminate the shadowing effect and reduce the parasitic absorption. Additionally, the Si₃N₄ anti-reflection coating decreases optical losses in the bottom cell. The optimal structural specifications for rods at the top cell with a hexagonal pattern are r = 75 nm and a = 750 nm for the rod's radii and lattice constant, respectively in a 600 nm perovskite layer. Also, the interdigitated back contact bottom cell with the Si layer thickness of 290 μm was optimized for W_n/W_p = 0.2 and Gap = 5 μm. Cascading the proposed optimal sub-cells in a 4-terminal configuration led to the highest power conversion efficiency of 30.73 % ever reported, with the top and bottom cells contributing 23.34 % and 7.39 % to the overall efficiency, respectively to the best of the author's knowledge.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113510"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143437797","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":"Enhancing crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells by long persistent SrAl2O4:(Eu2+, Dy3+) phosphors","authors":"Ruiqi Zhu,&nbsp;Chaogang Lou,&nbsp;Han Diao,&nbsp;Guoxiang Song,&nbsp;Shaoqiang Huang,&nbsp;Yunzhen Yin","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113521","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113521","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Enhancing the conversion efficiency of silicon heterojunction solar cells by the spectral conversion of long persistent SrAl₂O₄:(Eu²⁺, Dy³⁺) (SAO) phosphors is presented. The phosphors can not only convert short-wavelength photons to long-wavelength photons, but also convert long-wavelength photons to short-wavelength photons. This makes them able to improve simultaneously the utilization of ultraviolet light and infrared light. The averaged conversion efficiency of the solar cells increases 0.313 % after packaging with ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) containing 3 % concentration of the phosphors. Compared with the solar cells packaged without the phosphors, the conversion efficiency increases 0.19 %, 0.255 % and 0.085 % in three wavelength bands 200–500 nm, 500–1220 nm and 1220–1800 nm, respectively.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113521"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143427832","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":"Innovative refractory concrete for high temperature thermal energy storage","authors":"J. Ramon Castro ,&nbsp;Carolina Santini ,&nbsp;Gabriel Zsembinszki ,&nbsp;Saranprabhu Mani Kala ,&nbsp;Franklin R. Martinez ,&nbsp;Sara Risco ,&nbsp;Claudia Fabiani ,&nbsp;Anna Laura Pisello ,&nbsp;Luisa F. Cabeza","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113506","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113506","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Thermal energy storage (TES) systems play an important role in the management of thermal energy and associated consumption. Furthermore, using TES, combustion of fossil fuels and their associated environmental impacts are avoided. In particular, demand for high temperature energy storage is increasing and research focuses on the development of suitable materials for these applications. A limited number of studies focus on the use of sensible heat storage systems that exploit concrete as a TES under high temperature conditions for concentrating solar power (CSP) plant systems. The main drawback to overcome in concrete TES is the degradation of the concrete after charging and discharging thermal cycles. This study aims to develop a novel concrete formulation designed for high-temperature applications and capable of withstanding thermal cycling. To achieve this, a refractory concrete was conceptualized using calcium aluminate cement (CAC) and refractory aggregates, specifically basalt and chamotte. The formulation also incorporates a heat treatment applied after the cu[[ring period to enhance its performance under extreme thermal conditions. This heat treatment is what allows to transform a CAC concrete, that unites the dispersed material through hydraulic nodes, into a refractory concrete, that unites the dispersed material through its ceramisation. The new concrete formulation was analysed to evaluate its performance before and after 25 thermal cycles. Results show that thermal conductivity and compressive strength after ceramisation have values around 1.7 W/m·K and 52 MPa, respectively. It was also observed that the initial thermal treatment was not necessary, because the ceramisation of the concrete can also be achieved during the thermal cycling process if the correct heating and cooling rates are used. The developed new concrete formulation containing refractory aggregates demonstrated excellent thermo-physical and mechanical properties that make it suitable for high-temperature TES applications (temperatures up to 700 °C).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113506"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143421809","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":"Optimization of NiOₓ thin film properties and its impact on the performance of bifacial Sb₂Se₃ solar cells","authors":"Ching-Chuan Cheng,&nbsp;Yi-Cheng Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113511","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113511","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>NiOₓ thin films show promise in Sb₂Se₃ thin film solar cells, though the optimal oxygen stoichiometry (x) remains undetermined. While most solar cells use single-sided illumination. This study demonstrates a high-performance bifacial Sb₂Se₃ solar cell with a superstrate configuration (FTO/NiOₓ/Sb₂Se₃/CdS/i-ZnO/ITO/Al), utilizing NiOₓ hole transport layer (HTL) deposited via reactive sputtering. The device's performance under single and bifacial illumination conditions was systematically investigated, along with oxygen/argon flow ratio (OAFR) optimization. At OAFR = 10 %, NiOₓ exhibited optimal stoichiometry (x = 1.04), complete columnar crystallization, and balanced Ni³⁺/Ni²⁺ ratio, resulting in high visible transmittance (81 %) and a bandgap of 3.78 eV. Under FTO-side single illumination, the device achieved an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.36 V, short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 23.16 mA/cm², fill factor (FF) of 54.46 %, and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.86 %. The bifacial configuration demonstrated enhanced performance primarily through additional light harvesting from both front and rear illumination. The optimized NiOₓ HTL further supported this enhancement through efficient hole extraction and reduced interface recombination. These synergistic effects improved device performance with Jsc increasing to 29.93 mA/cm², Voc reaching 0.414 V, and achieving a PCE of 6.72 %. The device achieves a bifaciality factor of 0.90, showing balanced performance. With an albedo factor of 0.2, the bifacial efficiency gain reaches 18 %.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113511"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143421796","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":"Enhanced catalytic performance of MoO3/MoS2-rGO counter electrode towards a Pt-free dye sensitized solar cell","authors":"Vibavakumar Sivakumar ,&nbsp;Nisha Dharmajan ,&nbsp;Archana Jayaram ,&nbsp;Navaneethan Mani ,&nbsp;Harish Santhana Krishnan","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113496","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113496","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The redox process at the electrolyte/counter electrode (CE) interface is a crucial step in achieving efficient charge flow cycles in DSSCs. The work focuses on enhancing the charge kinetics between the electrolyte, and MoO₃ CE using MoS₂-reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composites. Different weight percentages of rGO (5 wt%, 10 wt%, and 15 wt%) are composited with MoS₂. The MoO₃ surface is modified by screen-printing MoS₂, and MoS₂-rGO on it. The dense network of MoS₂, and rGO at the optimized concentration furnishes Pt-like electrocatalytic activity to MoO₃. The 10 wt% of rGO in MoS₂ (M/MSG10) imparts favourable properties to MoO₃ CE by lowering the charge transfer resistance by 2.6-fold and enhancing the electrocatalytic performance. The limiting, and exchange current densities increase by 2.2, and 2.9 times, respectively, compared to MoO₃. M/MSG10 CE exhibits a maximum power conversion efficiency of 5.0 %, which is 2.9 times higher than MoO₃. This champion device outperforms the conventional Pt CE by recording an efficiency 1.1-fold higher. This study identifies Pt-free CE, specifically MoO₃/MoS₂-rGO, as a potential candidate to reduce the cost of DSSCs, and promote commercialization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113496"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143421795","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":"Solid-state selenium diffusion processing to prepare Sb2(S,Se)3 film for planar heterojunction solar cells","authors":"Wangwei Chen ,&nbsp;Guoliang Gao ,&nbsp;Litao Zhao ,&nbsp;Conghui Liu ,&nbsp;Juanjuan Qi ,&nbsp;Guang Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113495","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113495","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Excellent optoelectronic properties make antimony selenosulfide an appealing light absorbering material in the solar cell research. Herein, we present a novel solid-state selenium diffusion (SSD) method featuring the reaction of solid-state selenium with precursor film to prepare Sb₂(S,Se)₃ film for efficient solar cells. The effects of reaction temperature and selenium layer thickness on the structure, composition and morphology of deposited film were investigated. Appropriate selenization can eliminate structural defects, while excessive selenization can lead to porous uncompact, loose morphology. Moreover, the band-gap, photo response and carrier transport characteristics which are highly correlated with device performance dependent on the S/Se ratio of antimony selenosulfide Sb₂(S,Se)₃ can be adjusted by SSD process (selenium layer thickness and reaction temperature). The optimized Sb₂(S,Se)₃ solar cell exhibited an efficiency of 6.37 % with a high <em>J</em>_sc of 19.17 mA/cm² and FF of 55.53 % under AM 1.5 illumination.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113495"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143421932","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":"Evaluation of parameters to characterize the aging of solar reflector materials","authors":"Johannes Wette ,&nbsp;Florian Sutter ,&nbsp;Ricardo Sánchez-Moreno ,&nbsp;Florian Wiesinger ,&nbsp;Aránzazu Fernández-García","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113493","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113493","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The evaluation of the degradation of solar reflectors for concentrating solar thermal applications is of primary importance for material development and to guarantee the optimal optical quality of the solar field over an extended life time. Standardization of durability tests and their evaluation is very limited nowadays and an important ongoing task contributing to the reliability and feasibility of the technology. In this work, a series of long duration accelerated aging tests were used to test a set of different reflector materials, from commercial to experimental and low-cost materials, and by taking the durations to extreme levels never before conducted, assuring the appearance of considerable degradation. The most common degradation parameters were determined and a thorough evaluation of the tests, the parameters and their determination techniques was performed. The copper-accelerated acetic acid salt spray test was confirmed to be the quickest test to provoke degradation in most materials and this way offers the possibility to compare different candidates. Other tests provoke little degradation for most materials even after long durations. The development of corrosion spots is the first parameter to show differences for the materials. The specular reflectance is more sensitive to show degradation than the hemispherical reflecance. An overview table was created which allows to determine minimum test durations to select, depending on the parameter and test to be evaluated. This serves as an important tool for the planning of future tests and may help with the further standardization of testing and evaluation of the durability of solar reflectors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113493"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143421794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hierarchically designed radiative cooling glass with enhanced thermal emittance by moisture capillary condensation","authors":"Xiaopeng Liu ,&nbsp;Guang Yang ,&nbsp;Wei Wang ,&nbsp;Wencai Zhou ,&nbsp;Chuanshen Wang ,&nbsp;Min Guan","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113486","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113486","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Transparent radiative cooling (T-RC) using photonic structures is limited by its high processing cost of inorganics and poor weather resistance of polymer in existing applications. Here, we develop a hierarchically designed T-RC glass that can promote nearly 8.5 % conversion efficiency in relative terms of solar cells at the nominal operating temperature. A micro-nano structure comprising micro-scale etched pits and nano-scale etched pores on the surface obviously improves the emissivity (∼0.97) in atmospheric window (8–13 μm) and the transmittance (∼97 %) in solar spectrum of the glass. Both the realistic measurements and multi-physics simulations demonstrate that when capillary condensation water is generated in nanopores, the emissivity of T-RC glass will further increase. Compared to the common glass, this glass exhibits exceptional heat dissipation with a temperature drop of 1.1 °C in indoor heating measurement and a temperature drop of 2.4 °C on average, with its peak at 3.3 °C in field measurement. This invention makes it possible to fabricate T-RC materials on a large scale, especially in the form of glass for semiconductor device heat dissipation, building and automobile energy-saving windows.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"285 ","pages":"Article 113486"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143395133","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}