Optical losses represent one of the primary obstacles to increasing the efficiency of silicon solar cells. The recommended solution to minimize optical losses is the use of plasmonic metal nanoparticles; however, they act as recombination centers within the solar cell construction, leading to a decrease in performance. The goal of this article is to introduce cobalt/graphene nanoparticles into the solar cell to minimize the optical losses. An ultra-thin film silicon PIN solar cell of dimensions (400 ×400 ×900) nm3 with ring metal contact shape was designed and numerically investigated using COMSOL Multiphysics software version 6.2 by the finite element method (FEM). Core/shell cobalt-graphene (Co/Gr) nanoparticles are periodically introduced into the cell between two layers (electron transport and active) in a ratio of 50:50 with an inter-spacing of a similar diameter. The Co/Gr parameters, number of nanoparticles (2, 4, 6), radius (10, 20, 30) nm, and shell thickness (1, 2, 4) nm were extensively studied. In addition, the arrangement of the core/shell nanoparticle material was considered. The results manifest the best performance of the proposed cell at 4 nanoparticles of 30 nm radius with 2 nm shell thickness for Co/Gr nanoparticles to get a maximum photocurrent of 26.28 mA/cm2. It is concluded that the optical losses of the Co/Gr core/shell nanoparticles embedded in an ultra-thin film silicon solar cell are significantly reduced owing to the increment in the absorption and hence the photocurrent. This enhancement opens a new avenue for further improvements.
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Solar collectors, in general, are utilized to convert the solar energy into heat energy, where it is employed to generate electricity. The non-concentrating solar collector with a circular shape was adopted in the present study. Ambient air is heated under a translucent roof where buoyant air is drawn from outside periphery towards the collector center (tower base). The present study is aimed to predict and visualize the thermal-hydrodynamic behavior for airflow under inclined roof of the solar air collector, SAC. Three-dimensional of the SAC model using the re-normalization group, RNG, k−ε turbulence viscus model is simulated. The simulation was carried out by using ANSYS-FLUENT 14.5. The simulation
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The absorption spectrum for three types of metal ions in different concentrations has been studying experimentally and theoretically. The examination model is by Gaius model in order to find the best fitting curve and the equation controlled with this behavior. The three metal ions are (Copper chloride Cu+2, Iron chloride Fe+3, and Cobalt chloride Co+2) with different concentrations (10-4, 10-5, 10-6, 10-7) gm/m3. The spectroscopic study included UV-visible and fluorescence spectrum for all different concentrations sample. The results refer to several peaks that appear from the absorption spectrum in the high concentration of all metal ions solution.
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SiO2 nanostructure is synthesized by the Sol-Gel method and thin films are prepared using dip coating technique. The effect of laser densification is studied. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR), and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) are used to analyze the samples. The results show that the silica nanoparticles are successfully synthesized by the sol-gel method after laser densification. XRD patterns show that cristobalite structure is observed from diode laser (410 nm) rather than diode laser (532 nm). FESEM images showed that the shape of nano silica is spherical and the particles size is in nano range (? 100 nm). It is concluded that the spherical nanocrystal structure of silica
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The Ge0.4Te0.6 alloy has been prepared. Thin films of Ge0.4Te0.6 has been prepared via a thermal evaporation method with 4000A thickness, and rate of deposition (4.2) A/sec at pressure 2x10-6 Torr. The A.C electrical conductivity of a-Ge0.4Te0.6 thin films has been studied as a function of frequency for annealing temperature within the range (423-623) K, the deduced exponent s values, was found to decrease with increasing of annealing temperature through the frequency of the range (102-106) Hz. It was found that, the correlated barrier hopping (CBH) is the dominant conduction mechanism. Values of dielectric constant ε1 and dielectric loss ε2 were found to decrease with frequency and increase with temperature. The activation energies have
... Show MoreThe dielectric permittivityεand ac conductivityσac of CuInSeTe thin films were measured at temperatures in the range of 303–453 K and frequencies in the range of 100 Hz–10 MHz. It is found that the ac activation energy estimated from the Arrhenius equation is 0.1004 eV which increases with substrate temperature and decreases with the increase of frequency. The exponentsshows a progressive increase withTs. The results are explained in terms of structural difference by the effect ofTs and thermal treatment.
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Nanostructural cupric oxide (CuO) films were prepared on Si and glass substrate by pulsed laser deposition technique (PLD) using laser Nd:YAG, using different laser pulses energies from 200 to 600 mJ. The X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) of the films showed a polycrystalline structure with a monoclinic symmetry and preferred orientation toward (111) plane with nano structure. The crystallite size was increasing with increasing of laser pulse energy. Optical properties was characterized by using UV–vis spectrometer in the wave lengthrange (200-1100) nm at room temperature. The results showed that the transmission spectrum decreases with the laser pulses energy increase. Sensitivity of NO2 gas at different operating temperatures, (50°C,
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ZnO thin films have been prepared by pulse laser deposition technique at room temperatures (RT). These films were deposited on GaAs substrate to form the ZnO/GaAs heterojunction solar cell. The effect of annealing temperatures at ( RT,100, 200)K on structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films has been investigated. The X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that all films have hexagonal polycrystalline structure. AFM shows that the grains uniformly distributed with homogeneous structure. The optical absorption spectra showed that all films have direct energy gap. The band gap energy of these films decreased with increasing annealing temperatures. From the electrical properties, the carriers have n-type conductivity. From
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Zinc Oxide (ZnO) is probably the most typical II-VI
semiconductor, which exhibits a wide range of nanostructures. In
this paper, polycrystalline ZnO thin films were prepared by chemical
spray pyrolysis technique, the films were deposited onto glass
substrate at 400 °C by using aqueous zinc chloride as a spray
solution of molar concentration of 0.1 M/L.
The crystallographic structure of the prepared film was analyzed
using X-ray diffraction; the result shows that the film was
polycrystalline, the grain size which was calculated at (002) was
27.9 nm. The Hall measurement of the film studied from the
electrical measurements show that the film was n-type. The optical
properties of the film were studied using