Search results for "photovoltaicS"

Comparative analysis of different supporting measures for the production of electrical energy by solar PV and Wind systems: Four representative Europ…

2009

Abstract In the 9th of March 2007, the European Council decided a fixing goal of 20% contribution of the renewable energy sources (RES) on the total European electric energy production in 2020. In order to reach such an ambitious goal, all the European countries are adopting different support policies for encouraging the installations of RES-based generation systems. In this paper, after a brief review on the main support policies for RES in Europe, the specific situations of four representative countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain) are examined, with the purpose of putting into evidence the main differences in the support policies adopted for Photovoltaic (PV) and Wind systems. In p…

Engineering 3D nanoscale order in molecular thin films for organic photovoltaics

2010

Assessment of Energy and Economic Effectiveness of Photovoltaic Systems Operating in a Dense Urban Context

2013

A methodology that permits testing the level of integration of the photovoltaic technology in urban areas is presented. The percentage of coverage of the electricity demand of grid-connected photovoltaic systems installed on the roofs of buildings were investigated in a district of the city of Palermo (Sicily). After classifying roofs according to their shape, orientation and pitch by means of satellite images provided by Google Earth, the ratio of the productivity of the PV systems and the consumption of electricity of the households was analysed. The results of the energy assessment have been screened considering the economic feasibility of grid-connected photovoltaic systems: the energy …

Theoretical efficiency limits for thermoradiative energy conversion

2015

Published version of an article in the journal: Journal of Applied Physics. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4907392 A new method to produce electricity from heat called thermoradiative energy conversion is analyzed. The method is based on sustaining a difference in the chemical potential for electron populations above and below an energy gap and let this difference drive a current through an electric circuit. The difference in chemical potential originates from an imbalance in the excitation and de-excitation of electrons across the energy gap. The method has similarities to thermophotovoltaics and conventional photovoltaics. While photovoltaic cells absorb…

Tackling Performance Challenges in Organic Photovoltaics: An Overview about Compatibilizers

2020

Organic Photovoltaics (OPVs) based on Bulk Heterojunction (BHJ) blends are a mature technology. Having started their intensive development two decades ago, their low cost, processability and flexibility rapidly funneled the interest of the scientific community, searching for new solutions to expand solar photovoltaics market and promote sustainable development. However, their robust implementation is hampered by some issues, concerning the choice of the donor/acceptor materials, the device thermal/photo-stability, and, last but not least, their morphology. Indeed, the morphological profile of BHJs has a strong impact over charge generation, collection, and recombination processes; control o…

ZnO/CdTe/CuSCN, a promising heterostructure to act as inorganic eta-solar cell

2005

Abstract The ZnO/CdTe/CuSCN heterostructure was analyzed as a candidate to act as an inorganic eta -solar cell. A ZnO film consisting of single crystal nanocolumns was electrodeposited on a transparent conducting substrate which acts as n-type material. As absorber material we used CdTe, which was deposited on the ZnO columnar film by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition. In order to complete the eta -solar cell we deposited a CuSCN layer by chemical solution deposition. A conformal and uniform CdTe coverage of the ZnO columns was achieved, producing a very efficient light trapping effect. The effective absorption (∼87%) and effective reflectance (∼10%) of the complete heterostructure in…

Material quality characterization of CdZnTe substrates for HgCdTe epitaxy

2006

Cd1−xZnxTe (CZT) substrates were studied to investigate their bulk and surface properties. Imperfections in CZT substrates affect the quality of Hg1−xCdxTe (MCT) epilayers deposited on them and play a role in limiting the performance of infrared (IR) focal plane arrays. CZT wafers were studied to investigate their bulk and surface properties. Transmission and surface x-ray diffraction techniques, utilizing both a conventional closed-tube x-ray source as well as a synchrotron radiation source, and IR transmission micro-spectroscopy, were used for bulk and surface investigation. Synchrotron radiation offers the capability to combine good spatial resolution and shorter exposure times than conv…

Physically-consistent parameterization in the modeling of solar photovoltaic devices

2011

This research tests the standard one-diode model of a crystalline-Si photovoltaic cell, focusing on the physical accuracy. In particular, the (apparent) shunt resistance and the diode ideality factor are studied. Current-voltage characteristics of illuminated crystalline-Si photovoltaic modules are analyzed, and some limits of applicability of the standard model are given. Typical values of the ideality factor for crystalline-Si devices are derived from own experimental data as well as from recently published literature. It is shown that the contribution of the apparent shunt resistance is only significant for cell voltages below about 0.45 V, and depends on irradiance. This result is consi…

Electrosynthesis and electrochemistry

2015

Since the pioneering work of Kolbe, electrochemistry and electrosynthetic methods have been a part of the repertoire of the organic synthesis toolbox [1–2]. In general, only electrons are employed as reagents or the reagents are electrochemically regenerated. Consequently, waste can be avoided, and limited resources can be used in a careful and economic manner. Because alternative reaction pathways are employed by electrosynthetic methods, scarce and toxic elements can be replaced or are not required at all [3]. Moreover, in the foreseeable future regenerative sources of electricity, for example, photovoltaics and wind power, will provide a surplus of electricity as the current unsteady sup…

Mixed Iodide-Bromide Methylammonium Lead Perovskite-based Diodes for Light Emission and Photovoltaics.

2015

Vacuum deposition techniques are used to prepare mixed iodide–bromide methylammonium lead perovskite diodes via an intermediate double layer of the pure iodide and bromide perovskites. The diodes lead to bright electroluminescence, whose emission spectra maxima shift from the infrared toward the visible with increasing bromide content. When illuminated with AM1.5 simulated sunlight the devices function as efficient solar cells with power conversion efficiencies as high as 12.9%.