The present study focuses on synthesizing solar selective absorber thin films, combining nanostructured, binary transition metal spinel features and a composite oxide of Co and Ni. Single-layered designs of crystalline spinel-type oxides using a facile, easy and relatively cost-effective wet chemical spray pyrolysis method were prepared with a crystalline structure of MxCo3−xO4. The role of the annealing temperature on the solar selective performance of nickel-cobalt oxide thin films (∼725 ± 20 nm thick) was investigated. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of high crystalline quality thin films with a crystallite size in the range of 27–52 nm. The highest solar absorptance (∼85.2%) and the lowest thermal emittance (∼4.45%) along with the highest values of both hardness and the Young’s modulus (19.1 GPa and 104 GPa, respectively) were obtained for the film annealed at 600 °C. In addition, the synthesized nickel-cobalt oxide thin films show band gap energies in the range of 1.15–1.38 eV and excellent thermal stability at higher temperatures, which makes them interesting candidates for solar absorbing applications.
This research aims to understand the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the nickel laterite deposit in the East Sulawesi Ophiolite Belt in Wiwirano District, North Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The deposit is analyzed and described to determine the laterization process and supergene enrichment. The geochemical data was obtained from X-ray fluorescence analysis, and mineralogical data from petrography and X-ray diffraction analysis. The minerals in the limonite zone are dominated by goethite and hematite. Minerals found in the saprolite zone include quartz, orthopyroxene, and lizardite, whereas the bedrock is made up of olivine, orthopyroxene, serpentine, and chromite. Fe2O3, Al2O3, and Co contents are high in
... Show MoreWithin this paper, we developed a new series of organic chromophores based on triphenyleamine (TPA) (AL1, AL-2, AL-11 and AL-22) by engineering the structure of the electron donor (D) unit via replacing a phenyle ring or inserting thiophene as a π-linkage. For the sake of scrutinizing the impact of the TPA donating ability and the spacer upon the photovoltaic, absorptional, energetic, and geometrical characteristic of these sensitizers, density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) have been utilized. According to structural characteristics, incorporating the acceptor, π-bridge and TPA does not result in a perfect coplanar conformation in AL-22. We computed EHOMO, ELUMO and bandgap (Eg) energies by performing frequency a
... Show MoreIn this research, the results of x-ray diffraction method were used to determine the uniform stress deformation and microstructure parameters of CuO nanoparticles to determine the lattice strain obtained and crystallite size and then to compare the results obtained by two model Halder Wagner and Size Strain Plot with the results of these methods of the same powder using equations during which the calculation of the size of the crystallite size and lattice strain, It was found that the results obtained the values of the crystallite size (19.81nm) and the lattice strain (0.004065) of the Halder-wagner model respectively and for the ssp method were the results of the crystallite size (17.20nm) and lattice strain (0.000305) respectively. The sa
... Show MoreThe annual performance of a hybrid system of a flat plate photovoltaic thermal system and a solar thermal collector (PVT/ST) is numerically analyzed from the energy, exergy, and environmental (CO2 reduction) viewpoints. This system can produce electricity and thermal power simultaneously, with higher thermal power and exergy compared to conventional photovoltaic thermal systems. For this purpose, a 3D transient numerical model is developed for investigating the system's performance in four main steps: (1) investigating the effects of the mass flow rate of the working fluid (20 to 50 kg/h) on the temperature behavior and thermodynamic performance of the system, (2) studying the impacts of using glass covers on the different parts of the s
... Show More

