Explore the vast range of titles available.

The article explores passive systems for regulating microclimates in residential settings, with a focus on modular constructions. It investigates the use of the trombe wall system for passive ventilation to ensure comfort and hygiene. The study examines building designs that enable effective air circulation without using mechanical systems. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the passive system of using solar energy with the trombe wall as a ventilation device in modular houses has been experimentally confirmed. Although the research confirms the effectiveness of this solar system in modular homes, there is limited documentation regarding its overall efficiency, particularly concerning the impact of the surface pressure coefficient on ventilation. The study establishes the correlations governing the thermosiphon collector’s effectiveness at varying air layer thicknesses. Optimal parameters, such as maximum air consumption (L = 120 m3h−1), are identified at an air layer thickness (δ) of 100 mm and outlet openings area (F) of 0.056 m2. These findings pave the way for improving passive systems aimed at maintaining optimal thermal and air conditions in modern homes. The findings suggest the potential for more efficient and sustainable housing solutions. Further research is essential to understand how factors like building design and wind speed affect ventilation system efficacy.

The solar cell market is predominantly based on textured screen-printed solar cells. Due to parasitic absorption in nanostructures, using plasmonic processes to obtain an enhancement that exceeds 2.5% of the short-circuit photocurrent density is challenging. In this paper, a 7.2% enhancement in the photocurrent density can be achieved through the integration of plasmonic Al nanoparticles and wrinkle-like graphene sheets. For the first time, we experimentally achieve Al nanoparticle-enhanced solar cells. An innovative thermal evaporation method is proposed to fabricate low-coverage Al nanoparticle arrays on solar cells. Due to the ultraviolet (UV) plasmon resonance of Al nanoparticles, the performance enhancement of the solar cells is significantly greater than that from Ag nanoparticles. Subsequently, we deposit wrinkle-like graphene sheets over the Al nanoparticle-enhanced solar cells. Compared with planar graphene sheets, the bend carbon layer also exhibits a broadband light-trapping effect. Our results exceed the limit of plasmonic light trapping in textured screen-printed silicon solar cells. Solar cells: Nanostructure enhancement The performance of screen-printed silicon solar cells can be enhanced by aluminium nanoparticles. Xi Chen and co-workers from the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia report that light scattering effects can increase a solar cell’s short-circuit photocurrent density by up to 6.3%. Aluminium nanoparticles are advantageous because their Fano resonance, unlike those of gold or silver nanoparticles, falls in the ultraviolet wavelength band. This means that detrimental Fano interference effects between scattered and unscattered light can be avoided within the solar cell’s spectral range of operation. The addition of wrinkle-like graphene sheets further improves the photocurrent to 7.3% beyond that of an unmodified screen-printed cell.

This study investigates the effect of a perforated sheet combined with a double‐skin facade (DSPF) by varying the important building parameters, such as perforation percentage, facade orientation, and the thickness of the double‐skin facade (DSF). This study determines the energy‐saving, natural ventilation, and daylight performance of an office building in Tokyo, Japan by conducting simulations. This study discovers that the DSPF thickness does not influence the performances much and the DSPF thickness of 0.5 m is recommended. For daylighting, the system with the 40% perforation percentage on the south and 10% perforation percentage on the west is the best case of daylight access without disturbing glare in the particular view of this study. To balance natural ventilation and daylight when installing perforated screens, this research demonstrated the net heat removal in spring when the perforated percentage of 50% on the south and 30% on the west is recommended. In autumn, the net heat removal when the perforated percentage of 10% on the south and 30% on the west is recommended. This research demonstrated that the total net heat removal when the perforated percentage of 10% on the south and 30% on the west are recommended for removing heat throughout a year. This study investigates the effect of a perforated sheet combined with a double‐skin facade by varying the important building parameters, such as perforation percentage, facade orientation, and the thickness of the double‐skin facade.

This research focuses on the application and performance assessment of geometric patterns as shading screens and shows how the geometric patterns can function as a design agency, an environmental control system, and a cultural element. We begin with a brief review of the underlying rules of creating two-dimensional geometric patterns, and then look at how these patterns evolve as three-dimensional shading screens in buildings. We next discuss a predictive model for translating complex patterns to simple patterns concerning their perforation ratio, granularity, and morphology. This is followed by an experimental and simulation study for measuring the daylighting performance of some simple shading screens. The result of this phase assesses the agreement among experimental and numerical studies. Finally, we evaluate the performance of a screen inspired by a Persian pattern.

This study investigated the potential of using a nonuniform woven panel with nonuniform strips—thick sticks and thin battens—as an external solar shading screen that addressed daylighting, shading, and mechanical performance factors. The sustainable material, namely, bamboo, was used as the demonstration material for the screen. An on-site experiment and ANSYS simulation were carried out to investigate the basic solar optical performance and structural strength of the proposed screen, respectively. Then, a series of daylighting simulations were conducted to optimize the configuration of the screen. The results showed that the nonuniform woven solar shading screen reduced up to 80.3% of the solar radiation gain in a room during summer months while ensuring a relatively even distribution of useful daylight during the year. Moreover, the screen effectively reduced the negative impact of glare to a level below “imperceptible” and enabled a relatively clear view through the window and shading. Regarding the structural strength, the screen with a size smaller than or equal to 1 × 1 m withstood a wind load of 12 m/s. Furthermore, this study proposed two optimal configurations: a screen woven of square sticks and battens with a distance of 10 mm between them, and a screen woven of round sticks and battens with a distance of 8 mm between them. This study illustrated the superiority of the nonuniform woven solar shading screens, which supports a wider application of solar shading screens made of other materials with similar structures and reflectance values.

Formation of an Ohmic contact requires a suitable firing temperature, appropriate doping profile, and contact dimensions within resolution limits of the screen-printing process. In this study, the role of the peak firing temperature in standard rapid thermal annealing (RTA) six-zone conveyor belt furnace (CBF) and two inexpensive alternate RTA systems [a custom-designed, three-zone, 5″-diameter quartz tube furnace (QTF) and a tabletop, 3″-diameter rapid thermal processing (RTP)] has been investigated. In addition, the role of sheet resistance and contact area in achieving low-resistance ohmic contacts has been examined. Electrical measurements of ohmic contacts between silver paste/n+-emitter layer with varying sheet resistances and aluminum paste/p-doped wafer were carried out in transmission line method configuration. Experimental measurements of the contact resistivity (ρc) exhibited the lowest values for CBF at 0.14 mΩ cm2 for Ag and 100 mΩ cm2 for Al at a peak firing temperature of 870°C. For the QTF configuration, lowest measured contact resistivities were 3.1 mΩ cm2 for Ag and 74.1 mΩ cm2 for Al at a peak firing temperature of 925°C. Finally, for the RTP configuration, lowest measured contact resistivities were 1.2 mΩ cm2 for Ag and 68.5 mΩ cm2 for Al at a peak firing temperature of 780°C. The measured contact resistivity exhibits strong linear dependence on sheet resistance. The contact resistivity for Ag decreases with contact area, while for Al the opposite behavior is observed.

This study focuses on first-generation crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells, which remain the core of the PV industry. It outlines the structure and operation of single-junction cells, distinguishing between monocrystalline and polycrystalline technologies. A literature review was conducted using databases such as Web of Science and Scopus to identify research trends and inform future research directions. PV cell classification by generation is also presented based on production methods and materials. The experimental section includes both electrical and structural characterisation of crystalline silicon solar cells, with particular emphasis on the influence of the number and geometry of front-side busbars on metal-semiconductor contact resistance and electrical properties. Additionally, the paper highlights the use of dedicated laboratory equipment—such as a solar simulator (for determining photovoltaic cell parameters from current-voltage characteristics) and Corescan equipment (for determining layer parameters using the single-tip probe method)—in evaluating PV cell properties. This equipment is part of the Photovoltaics and Electrical Properties Laboratory at the Silesian University of Technology. The findings demonstrate clear structural correlations that can contribute to optimising the performance and longevity of silicon-based PV cells.

The application of metallic nanoparticles leads to an increase in the efficiency of solar cells due to the plasmonic effect. We explore various scenarios of the related mechanism in the case of metallized perovskite solar cells, which operate as hybrid chemical cells without p-n junctions, in contrast to conventional cells such as Si, CIGS or thin-layer semiconductor cells. The role of metallic nano-components in perovskite cells is different than in the case of p-n junction solar cells and, in addition, the large forbidden gap and a large effective masses of carriers in the perovskite require different parameters for the metallic nanoparticles than those used in p-n junction cells in order to obtain the increase in efficiency. We discuss the possibility of activating the very poor optical plasmonic photovoltaic effect in perovskite cells via a change in the chemical composition of the perovskite and through special tailoring of metallic admixtures. Here we show that it is possible to increase the absorption of photons (optical plasmonic effect) and simultaneously to decrease the binding energy of excitons (related to the inner electrical plasmonic effect, which is dominant in perovskite cells) in appropriately designed perovskite structures with multishell elongated metallic nanoparticles to achieve an increase in efficiency by means of metallization, which is not accessible in conventional p-n junction cells. We discuss different methods for the metallization of perovskite cells against the background of a review of various attempts to surpass the Shockley–Queisser limit for solar cell efficiency, especially in the case of the perovskite cell family.

As a key contender in the field of photovoltaics, third‐generation thin‐film perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have gained significant research and investment interest due to their superior power conversion efficiency (PCE) and great potential for large‐scale production. For commercialization consideration, low‐cost and scalable fabrication is of primary importance for PSCs, and the development of the applicable film‐forming techniques that meet the above requirements plays a key role. Currently, large‐area perovskite films are mainly produced by printing techniques, such as slot‐die coating, inkjet printing, blade coating, and screen‐printing. Among these techniques, screen printing offers a high degree of functional layer compatibility, pattern design flexibility, and large‐scale ability, showing great promise. In this work, the advanced progress on applying screen‐printing technology in fabricating PSCs from technique fundamentals to practical applications is presented. The fundamentals of screen‐printing technique are introduced and the state‐of‐the‐art studies on screen‐printing different functional layers in PSCs and the control strategies to realize fully screen‐printed PSCs are summarized. Moreover, the current challenges and opportunities faced by screen‐printed perovskite devices are discussed. This work highlights the critical significance of high throughput screen‐printing technology in accelerating the commercialization course of PSCs products.

The richness of optical and electronic properties of graphene attracts enormous interest. Graphene has high mobility and optical transparency, in addition to flexibility, robustness and environmental stability. So far, the main focus has been on fundamental physics and electronic devices. However, we believe its true potential lies in photonics and optoelectronics, where the combination of its unique optical and electronic properties can be fully exploited, even in the absence of a bandgap, and the linear dispersion of the Dirac electrons enables ultrawideband tunability. The rise of graphene in photonics and optoelectronics is shown by several recent results, ranging from solar cells and light-emitting devices to touch screens, photodetectors and ultrafast lasers. Here we review the state-of-the-art in this emerging field.