A review on PV cells and nanocomposite-coated PV systems

Abstract

Solar radiation can be converted into electrical energy and generate electric power that can be utilized in multiple ways. The technological improvements have provided enormous solutions to the mankind for utilizing the solar energy although photovoltaic's (PV) by consuming sunlight. Photovoltaic is popularly known by the process of converting light to electricity. The current estimated growth by producing global power around 368 GW in 2017 and projecting 3000 to 10 000 GW by 2030. Looking at all the available solar cells, it has been observed that the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) when compared to mono-Si or poly-Si has been effective in its performance and also reduces production cost to a great extent. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of DSSC has reached to a better extent and been discussed in the paper. There are other mechanisms through which the efficiency can be improved like applying the antireflection coating. Reflection is a usual phenomenon that happens when light incident from one medium to another varies in refractive index. This reflection is one of the important reasons for the loss of power in the PV Cell.So to improve the PCE, the Mono-Si or DSSC PV Cells can be applied with a thin film antireflection coating by the nanocomposite film consisting of singleor multi-wall carbon nanotubes with TiO 2 and other efficient nanoparticles. This paper discusses on different kinds of nanocomposite materials, and their functionalities has been clearly given. Remarkable improvements have been recorded in the last 1 year by applying the antireflection coating; the PCE has further been increased enormously when compared to the uncoated solar cell for both DSSC and Mono-Si PV cells.

Numerical Exploration and Statistical Analysis of Mathematical Parameters of Anti Reflecting Coating on Operational Parameters Improvement of Solar Cell

“…Anti-reflection coatings (ARC) and surface texturing both help to minimize reflection. Solar cell anti-reflection coatings are comparable to those used on other optical devices like camera lenses [1][2][3][4][5][6]. They are made up of a thin layer of dielectric material that has been purposefully chosen at a thickness such that interference effects in the coating result in an out-of-phase reflection of the wave from the top surface of the anti-reflection coating compared to the wave reflected from the semiconductor surfaces [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

Using ZnO/PMMA Nanocomposite Coating to Improve the Polycrystalline Solar Cell in Hot Weather Conditions

“…This increase came as a result of reducing the visible light reflection from (35%) for the uncoated polycrystalline solar cell to (5.6%) for the solar cell coated with nano-coating at a concentration of (3.875 wt%), as well as reducing the surface temperature of the polycrystalline solar cell from (81.5 ºC) to (72.9 ºC). Figure (11) show the power and efficiency graphs, while Table (6) shows the results of studies for all polycrystalline solar cells with various nanocomposite coatings and without coatings.…”

Numerical study with eco-exergy analysis and sustainability assessment for a stand-alone nanofluid PV/T

“…On the other hand, global warming [6], initial installation, and the present efficiency are major challenges facing the solar panels industry [7]. In order to face these challenges, many trials have been done either to increase solar panel efficiencies by developing new manufacturing techniques as reported in [8] and [9] or by controlling the temperature of PV panels using alternative methods. As reported in [10], accumulated heat causes the solar panel temperature to increase and consequently reducing the electricity generation efficiency with an efficiency-temperature coefficient β of 0.0045℃ −1 .…”