Solar Technologies – Page 3 – TechConnect Briefs

Potential of Water‐Responsive Materials to Harvest Energy from Evaporation

Cavusoglu A.‐H., Chen X., Sahin O., Columbia University, US

Water-responsive materials swell and shrink in response to changes in relative humidity (RH) and can be potentially used to harvest energy from evaporating water. Here, we investigated the potential of harvesting energy from naturally evaporating [...]

Light Trapping in Solar Cells Using Nanostructured Reflectors: A Responsivity-Based Model Applied to Waveguide Mode Matching

Shahriad T., Shepard S.R., Louisiana Tech University, US

Although theoretically predicted that periodic photonic nanostructures can outperform the pseudo random structures in light trapping in solar cells, still the disputation regarding this topic is at the top. To enlighten the world about the [...]

Nanoscaled Microelectronics and Nanotechnology-Enabled Energy Systems for Micro Airvehicles

Lyshevski S.E., Beisenbi M., Uskenbayeva G., Shukirova A., L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, KZ

For autonomous micro air vehicles (MAVs), we study nanotechnology-enabled high-power and high-energy densities microelectronics, power electronics, energy sources and energy storage solutions. Proof-of-concept self-sustainable power systems are designed with applications in all-electric autonomous aerospace, naval [...]

Novel Applications for Flexible CIGS-based Photovoltaics for Solar Power Generation, Management and Storage

Armstrong J.H., Retureta S.P., Lee I., Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., US

Converting solar energy into electrical power has been an attractive alternative to fossil fuels for many years, and with the advent of lightweight, flexible, efficient photovoltaic (PV) blankets, many applications have been envisioned where off-grid [...]

TCAD Analysis of Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) Based Back-Contact Back-Junction (BC-BJ) Solar Cell-an Alternative for Silicon Based Cells

Pandey R., Chaujar R., Delhi Technological University, IN

In this work, an ultra-thin, Back-Contact Back-Junction (BC-BJ) Crystalline Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) solar cell device structure called BC-BJ c-SiGe solar cell has been proposed. The results, are compared with conventional BC-BJ silicon cell. SiGe is used [...]

Solar Power Technologies

Solar Energy System Prototype with a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)

Abdelmoaty A.A., Helmy A., Rezk A.A., Ismail Y., The American University in Cairo, EG

The paper shows the design and implementation of a novel power management unit that combines (mixes) several power harvesting sources and delivers (routes) the power to the working load and the battery. The system can [...]

Theoretical modelling of nanofluids for heat transfer

Myers T.G., Centre de Recerca, ES

In this talk we will discuss two uses of nanofluids for heat transfer: for cooling purposes and for absorbing solar thermal energy. In the first case we show that a popular theoretical model, which has [...]

Synthesis of Novel Functionalized-Graphene/Quantum Dots Hybrid System for Solar Cells Application

Babkair S.S., Khan M.T., Azam A., kau, SA

In the recent years functionalize graphene and inorganic quantum dots have emerged as strong acceptor material for the organic solar cells. But the power conversion efficiency of the devices based on these materials is still [...]

Synthesis of Visible light Nanocomposites for H2 Production

Hussein A.M., Shende R.V., South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, US

Visible light active nanocomposites were synthesized by the sol-gel method using non-ionic surfactant as a template. Cr-doped ZrO2-modified coupled ZnO/TiO2 composite was thoroughly characterized for surface area, crystal phase, microstructure, elemental identification and band gap [...]