A Luminescent Solar Concentrator (LSC) greenhouse and an identical control greenhouse were constructed with photovoltaic (PV) cells attached to the roof panels of both structures. The placement and types of PV cells used in the LSC panels were varied for performance comparisons. Solar power generation was monitored continuously for one year, with leading LSC panels exhibiting a 37% increase in power production compared to the reference. The 22.3 m2 greenhouse was projected to generate a total of 1342 kWh per year, or 57.4 kWh/m2 if it were composed solely of the leading panel of Criss Cross panel design. The LSC panels showed no signs of degradation throughout the trial demonstrating the material's robustness in field conditions.
a b s t r a c tSkutterudites are considered to be good thermoelectrics with high figures of merit, ZT. After synthesis, electrodes are created by grinding and hot pressing the resulting powder. Materials such as NdFe 4 Sb 12 exhibit a significantly greater figure of merit, ZT, (about 43%) when it is ball milled to produce fine powders (inital powder 160 nm; after hot pressing~330 nm). This enhancement is typically attributed to the reduced particle size, which in turn decreases the mean free path of phonons, and consequently decreases the thermal conductivity. This work aims to investigate whether there is any damage to the crystal structure in the particles formed by ball milling, which could also affect its thermal conductivity. Using a temperature dependent, Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) analysis of a hand ground and ball milled sample of the skutterudite Nd y Fe 4 Sb 12 , we have determined that ball milling causes no significant damage to the local structure around any site. Consequently further improvements in ZT may be possible with smaller particles.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.