Four-terminal perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells for low light applications

Here novel high efficient semi-transparent perovskite solar cells (PSCs) based on ZrO2 photoelectrodes were fabricated and were used as top elements in tandem systems with crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells in four-terminal configuration. The comparative analysis of photovoltaic parameters measured for PSCs, c-Si solar cells and PSC/c-Si tandem solar cells demonstrated that the use of ZrO2 photoelectrodes allows to improve the PSC performance and to achieve efficiencies for PSC/c-Si tandem solar cell higher than for a standalone c-Si solar cell under varying illumination conditions.

Recent Meta-heuristic Algorithms with a Novel Premature Covergence Method for Determining the Parameters of PV Cells and Modules

Currently, the incorporation of solar panels in many applications is a booming trend, which necessitates accurate simulations and analysis of their performance under different operating conditions for further decision making. In this paper, various optimization algorithms are addressed comprehensively through a comparative study and further discussions for extracting the unknown parameters. Efficient use of the iterations within the optimization process may help meta-heuristic algorithms in accelerating convergence plus attaining better accuracy for the final outcome. In this paper, a method, namely, the premature convergence method (PCM), is proposed to boost the convergence of meta-heuristic algorithms with significant improvement in their accuracies. PCM is based on updating the current position around the best-so-far solution with two-step sizes: the first is based on the distance between two individuals selected randomly from the population to encourage the exploration capability, and the second is based on the distance between the current position and the best-so-far solution to promote exploitation. In addition, PCM uses a weight variable, known also as a controlling factor, as a trade-off between the two-step sizes. The proposed method is integrated with three well-known meta-heuristic algorithms to observe its efficacy for estimating efficiently and effectively the unknown parameters of the single diode model (SDM). In addition, an RTC France Si solar cell, and three PV modules, namely, Photowatt-PWP201, Ultra 85-P, and STM6-40/36, are investigated with the improved algorithms and selected standard approaches to compare their performances in estimating the unknown parameters for those different types of PV cells and modules. The experimental results point out the efficacy of the PCM in accelerating the convergence speed with improved final outcomes.

Evaluation and Comparison of The Current-Voltage (I-V) Performance for Both Silicon Solar Cells and Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) Covered with Natural Plant Dyes

A new concept based on introducing natural dye-sensitized molecules on the surface of Silicon Si solar cell namely “dyed Si solar cell” is introduced. This dye/Si interface is thought to be effectively enhanced efficiency. The IV readings are compared among (a) blank and covered Si solar cells, (b) DSSC using the same sensitized molecules. The results were recorded with different physical parameters like UV-visible Spectrum dyes, light intensity, cell area, and different fabrication Also, cell stability has been recorded. These results serve simply to give some of the cutting-edge of dyed Si solar cell with a huge improvement in its efficiency up to 121% with pot marigold flower dye (CC) dye at its optimum case and 16.53% in arthropodafotos-de- flower dye (ZZ) dye at its lowest case. While in DSSC, the efficiencies associated with the same natural dyes were very limited, rather sometimes they get lower. The results have been compared with similar group studies. Our new concept may be used as a highly promising technology for the dyed Si solar cell to give higher efficiency compare with its blank Si solar cell due to the suitability of dyes with silicon semiconductor, we suggest a figure for the new cell which is an ambiguous mechanism of cooperation between excited molecule with the promoted electron of silicon semiconductor, Si.