Silicon nanowire arrays (SiNWs) are created utilizing the metal-assisted chemical etching method with an Ag metal as a catalyst and different etching time of 15, 30, and 60 minutes using n-Si (100). Physical properties such as structural, surface morphology, and optical properties of the prepared SiNWs are studied. The diameter of prepared SiNWs ranged from 20 to 280 nm, and the reflectance in the visible part of the wavelength spectrum was less than 1% for all prepared samples. The obtained energy gap of prepared SiNWs was around 2 eV, which is higher than the energy gap of bulk silicon. X-ray diffraction (XRD) has diffraction peaks at 68.70o for all prepared samples. The heterojunction solar cell was fabricated based on the n-SiNWs/ P3HT/PEDOT: PSS structure. The heterojunction solar cell produced for 60 minutes has the highest Jsc of 11.55 mA.cm-2 and a conversion efficiency of 0.93%. Based on SiNWs prepared for etching time of 15 min, the solar cell demonstrated Jsc and Voc of 2.73 mA/cm2 and 0.46 V, respectively, and a conversion efficiency of 0.34%.
The fall angle of sun rays on the surface of a photovoltaic PV panel and its temperature is negatively affecting the panel electrical energy produced and efficiency. The fall angle problem was commonly solved by using a dual-axis solar tracker that continually maintains the panel orthogonally positioning to the sun rays all day long. This leads to maximum absorption for solar radiation necessary to produce maximum amount of energy and maintain high level of electrical efficiency. To solve the PV panel temperature problem, a Water-Flow Double Glazing WFDG technique has been introduced as a new cooling tool to reduce the panel temperature. In this paper, an integration design of the water glazing system with a dual-axis tracker has been ac
... Show MoreIntroduction: The study was intended for Roseomonas gilardii NTCC 13290 strain pigment extraction and characterization. Methodology: The pigment-producing bacterial were cultured on Columbia blood agar and nutrient media agar. Then the pigments were extracted by ethanol. The candidate pigment was further characterized by different biotechnological techniques: UV-Vis spectroscopy, FT-IR to analyze the functional group of the targeted pigment, and TLC media. Results: The cultivation of Roseomonas gilardii on media showed pink color and nearly runny texture. The bacterial colonies were microscopically gram stained and examined, the R. gilardii was seen as coccobacillus colonies that mostly form pairs arranged as short chains. The R. gilardii b
... Show MoreSolar energy is the most abundant renewable energy source. This energy can be converted directly into electricity using solar panels. The fixed tilt solar panels are the most practical and the most widely installed throughout the world. Optimum tilt angle calculation has the advantage that it does not use expensive solar trackers. This research calculates the seasonal optimum tilt angle of solar panels for 17 cities in Iraq and 83 cities in 83 countries distributed around the world. Solar Panel Angle Calculator program was used in calculating the optimum tilt angles from vertical. The optimum tilt angle varies between 6° and 112° throughout the year. This angle for winter, spring/ autumn and summer seasons are found to be between
... Show MoreThe present paper is an experimental study to improve the productivity of the conventional solar still. This done by modifying conventional still in a way that the distilled basin is larger than distillation basin, thus providing an increase in the condensation surface and speeding up the condensation process. Moreover, increase in the dimensions of the distilled base helps coupling reflective panels to the distilled base to reflect incident solar radiation to the distillation basin. For this purpose , two solar stills were made, one conventional designand another made according to the proposed design. The two solar stills were tested during the period from February to July 2009 under varying weather conditions of Basra, Iraq (latitude o
... Show MoreIn this work, the effect of the addition of bright nickel plating and silver carried out by the electroplating method has been studied, on the coating of copper nanoparticles on the copper base metal via the process of thermal evaporation. The improvement of the solar absorber using CuNP in combination with the bright nickel and silver was obtained to be better than copper nanoparticles individually. A bright nickel enhanced the absorbed thermal stability. Also, other optical properties, absorptions, and emissivity slightly decreased from (93% to 87%), while the existence of silver had a slight impact on absorption of about (86.50%). On the other hand, thermal conductivity was evaluated using hot disk analyzer. The results showed a good
... Show MoreThe aim of this study was to investigate antibiotic amoxicillin removal from synthetic pharmaceutical wastewater. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) was used in photocatalysis treatment method under natural solar irradiation in a tubular reactor. The photocatalytic removal efficiency was evaluated by the reduction in amoxicillin concentration. The effects of antibiotics concentration, TiO2 dose, irradiation time and the effect of pH were studied. The optimum conditions were found to be irradiation time 5 hr, catalyst dosage 0.6 g/L, flow rate 1 L/min and pH 5. The photocatalytic treatment was able to destruct the amoxicillin in 5 hr and induced an amoxicillin reduction of about 10% with 141.8 kJ/L accumulate
... Show MoreOne of the most important problems facing the world today is the energy problem. The solution was in finding renewable energy sources such as solar energy. The solar energy applications in Iraq is facing many problems . One of the most important problems is the accumulation of dust on the solar panels surface which causes decreasing its performance sharply. In the present work, a new technique was presented by using two-axis solar tracking system to reduce the accumulated dust on the solar panel surface and compared it with the fixed solar panels which installed at tilt angles 30° and 45°. The results indicated that the maximum losses of the output power due to accumulation of dust on the fixed solar panels is about 31.4% and 23.1% res
... Show MoreThe degradation performance of aqueous solution of pesticide Alachlor has been studied at solar pilot scale plant in two photocatalytic systems: homogeneous photocatalysis by photo-Fenton and heterogeneous photocatalysis with titanium dioxide. The pilot scale system included of compound parabolic collectors specially designed for solar photocatalytic applications, and installed at University of Baghdad, Department of Environmental Engineering back yard. The influence of different concentrations, H2O2 (200-2400 mg/l), Fe+2(5- 30 mg/l) and TiO2 (100-500 mg/l) and their relationship with the degradation efficiency were studied.
The COD removal efficienc
... Show MoreA concept of indoor solar illumination is described and simulated. The solar illumination system is composed of a tracking primary reflector, a selective secondary reflector, a visible light guide and a scattering solid glass tube fixture. Each part of the solar illumination system is optically suited and compatible with other parts to realize high efficiency. The simulation is conducted for Baghdad city for a library hall. Two major days over a year are chosen to investigate the illumination system for acceptable visible light level for reading hall. The two days are: summer solstice day and winter solstice day at 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM for each. Research results showed that the design of the solar system is achieved on the base of minimu
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