The increasing demand for energy, the continuous reduction in existing sources of fossil fuels and the growing concern regarding environment pollution, have pushed mankind to explore new technologies for the production of electrical energy using clean, renewable sources, such as solar energy, wind energy, etc. Among the non-conventional, renewable energy sources, solar energy affords great potential for conversion into electric power, able to ensure an important part of the electrical energy needs of the planet. This paper deals with the design and execution of a solar tracker system dedicated to the PV conversion panels. The proposed single axis solar tracker device ensures the optimization of the conversion of solar energy into electricity by properly orienting the PV panel in accordance with the real position of the sun. The operation of the experimental model of the device is based on a Stepper motor intelligently controlled by a dedicated drive unit that moves a mini PV panel according to the signals received from two simple but efficient light sensors. In this paper mechanism of building an efficient solar tracking system with the help of Labview software is discussed and also discussed about the control strategy of the stepper motor. From the study it is found that the motor will move the solar array according to the light intensity of the sun.
Analysis and optimization of silicon nano-structured geometry (black silicon) for photovoltaic applications has been reported. It is seen that a unique class of geometry: micro-nanostructure has the potential to find a balance between the conflicting interests of reduced reflection for wide angles of incidence, reduced surface area enhancement due to the nano-structuring of the substrate and reduced material wastage due to the etching of the silicon substrate to realize the geometry itself. It is established that even optimally designed micro-nanostructures would not be useful for conventional wafer based approaches. The work presents computational studies on how such micro-nanostructures are more potent for future ultra-thin monocrystalline silicon absorbers. For such ultra-thin absorbers, the optimally designed micro-nanostructures provide additional advantages of advanced light management capabilities as it behaves as a lossy 2D photonic crystal making the physically thin absorber optically thick along with the ability to collect photo-generated carriers orthogonal to the direction of light (radial junction) for unified photon-electron harvesting. Most significantly, the work answers the key question on how thin the monocrystalline solar absorber should be so that optimum micro-nanostructure would be able to harness the incident photons ensuring proper collection so as to reach the well-known Shockley-Queisser limit of solar cells. Flexible ultra-thin monocrystalline silicon solar cells have been fabricated using nanosphere lithography and MacEtch technique along with a synergistic association of crystalline and amorphous silicon technologies to demonstrate its physical and technological flexibilities. The outcomes are relevant so that nanotechnology may be seamlessly integrated into the technology roadmap of monocrystalline silicon solar cells as the silicon thickness should be significantly reduced without compromising the efficiency within the next decade.
This work illustrates a technology for advanced light management by introducing a nonconventional back reflector layer (BRL) in amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells. To meet this, silver sulfide (Ag2S) nanoparticles with ∼50 nm diameter have been chosen as the nanomirror owing to its low parasitic absorption loss over a broad wavelength (300 to 1100 nm) region. The Ag2S NPs were sandwiched between two indium tin oxide (ITO) layers and placed as the back reflector layer of an a-Si:H solar cell to achieve better light trapping within the active layers. The embedded structure exhibited high reflectance (up to 93%) in the red and near-infrared region, the main working zone of a-Si:H cells. With the incorporation of such a state-of-the-art back reflector structure in a-Si:H solar cells, a photoconversion efficiency of 10.58% has been achieved, which is one of the best in this class.
Herein, we report the fabrication of flexible solar cells based on a crystalline p-Si/n-ZnO heterostructure for the first time. An enhancement of ∼52% in the base efficiency was achieved by the application of spherical SiO nanoparticles as light trapping structures on the top. The use of ZnO not only offers a facile route of synthesis, but also provides an additional advantage of large band bending, leading to notable open circuit voltage and formation of an intermediate ultra-thin barrier layer of ZnSiO for minimized carrier recombination. The spherical silica nanoparticles act as nanoresonators, causing absorption hot-spots in the thin silicon absorber, along with the capability of providing wide-angle light-collection. Simulation showed, for the higher angle of incidence, that the silica nanoparticles have the ability to bend light on the same side of the normal to the incident wave-front, thereby acting as a negative index metamaterial (NIM). The flexibility and cost-effectiveness of this device can make it important for the next-generation photovoltaics and roll-to-roll electronics.
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