Thin-film solar cells are preferable for their cost-effective nature, least use of material, and an optimistic trend in the rise of efficiency. This paper presents a holistic review regarding 3 major types of thin-film solar cells including cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and amorphous silicon (α-Si) from their inception to the best laboratory-developed module. The remarkable evolution, cell configuration, limitations, cell performance, and global market share of each technology are discussed. The reliability, availability of cell materials, and comparison of different properties are equally explored for the corresponding technologies. The emerging solar cell technologies holding some key factors and solutions for future development are also mentioned. The summarized part of this comparative study is targeted to help the readers to decipher possible research scopes considering proper applications and productions of solar cells.
This paper represents the performance evaluation of a microcontroller based solar-powered auto-rickshaw which can be used extensively in Bangladesh for transportation. The battery operated traditional auto-rickshaw is charged by national grid whereas the battery bank of the proposed microcontroller based solar-powered auto-rickshaw is charged by solar power. A PIC microcontroller is programmed to control the duty cycle of the dc motor and thereby reduce the battery discharge time of the battery bank. The life cycle cost (LCC) analysis has been done and compared with the traditional battery operated autorickshaw. It has been found that LCC/kWh of the proposed rickshaw is minimum. The practical measured results reveal that the performance of the proposed rickshaw outperforms the conventional battery operated auto-rickshaw.
In this paper, the effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) concentration on a TiO2 based dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been demonstrated along with the degradation study of the cell. Introducing MWCNTs into the semiconductor material reduces the resistance of the host material as well as enhances the thermal and electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, and flexibility. As the concentration of MWCNTs in TiO2 is increased, the cell efficiency also increased gradually until it reached an optimum concentration of 0.015 wt. %. A further increase in MWCNT's concentration in TiO2 leads to the negative effect of the DSSC's cell parameters by decreasing the short-circuit current and the fill factor, thus decreasing the overall cell efficiency. This result has been obtained by using a natural yellow dye extracted from turmeric (Curcuma longa). Without MWCNT incorporation, TiO2 has the cell efficiency of 0.921%, but for the optimum concentration of MWCNT incorporation, TiO2 has the maximum cell efficiency of 1.653%. Finally, the degradation study of the cell has been carried out for 360 hours.
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