passive solar systems such as solar chimneys need solar radiation in order to work. therefore, they cannot present stable natural ventilation when solar energy vanishes: to have a more robust and stable condition, solar energy should be stored during the day and released back during the night. phase change materials can save additional thermal energy during the day and release it during the nig...

In this paper, we discuss two new paradigms for enabling costeffective III-V solar cell photovoltaics using (i) our novel layer transfer technology, called controlled spalling and (ii) new solar cell device structures. First, we present the application of the controlled spalling for making high-efficiency thin-film multijunction solar cells. Finally, a novel GaAs heterojunction solar cell struc...

A new method for measuring component cell current-voltage (I-V) characteristics in a tandem-junction two-terminal solar cell is described. The measurements are performed with (a-Si/a-SiGe) tandem structure solar cell using two separate light beams of different wavelengths. The I-V characteristics of the compone nt cells are obtained and open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Isc) an...

Modeling of solar cell is a very difficult task. This is because of the non linear behavior of the cell. Different types of modeling for solar cells are available in the literature. The theme of the modeling is based on the solar radiation and temperature of the system and environment. Determination of cell parameters like Iph, Is, Rs ,Rsh and ideality factor generally affects the performance o...

Organic solar cells have advantages over the traditional inorganic solar cells. The flexibility and light-weight of an organic solar device lead to novel deployment unattainable by inorganic solar devices. There is a wide range of materials that can be used to fabricate an organic solar cell with many suitable conducting polymers and small molecules. The large number of appropriate materials me...