639 research outputs found

    Identifying Emerging Research Related to Solar Cells Field using a Machine Learning Approach

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    The number of research papers related to solar cells field is increasing rapidly. It is hard to grasp research trends and to identify emerging research issues because of exponential growth of publications, and the field’s subdivided knowledge structure. Machine learning techniques can be applied to the enormous amounts of data and subdivided research fields to identify emerging researches. This paper proposed a prediction model using a machine learning approach to identify emerging solar cells related academic research, i.e. papers that might be cited very frequently within three years. The proposed model performed well and stable. The model highlighted some articles published in 2015 that will be emerging in the future. Research related to vegetable-based dye-sensitized solar cells was identified as the one of the promising researches by the model. The proposed prediction model is useful to gain foresight into research trends in science and technology, facilitating decision-making processes

    An assessment of technology forecasting: Revisiting earlier analyses on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs)

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    © 2018 Elsevier Inc. The increasingly uncertain dynamics of technological change pose special challenges to traditional technology forecasting tools, which facilitates future-oriented technology analysis (FTA) tools to support the policy processes in the fields of science, technology & innovation (ST&I) and the management of technology (MOT), rather than merely forecasting incremental advances via analyses of continuous trends. Dye-sensitized solar cells are a promising third-generation photovoltaic technology that can add functionality and lower costs to enhance the value proposition of solar power generation in the early years of the 21st century. Through a series of technological forecasting studies analyzing the R&D patterns and trends in Dye-sensitized solar cells technology over the past several years, we have come to realize that validating previous forecasts is useful for improving ST&I policy processes. Yet, rarely do we revisit forecasts or projections to ascertain how well they fared. Moreover, few studies pay much attention to assessing FTA techniques. In this paper, we compare recent technology activities with previous forecasts to reveal the influencing factors that led to differences between past predictions and actual performance. Beyond our main aim of checking accuracy, in this paper we also wish to gain some sense of how valid those studies were and whether they proved useful to others in some ways

    Integrated Tandem Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC)-Lithium Ion Battery

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    Efficient renewable energy harvesting and storage are needed for present challenges related to clean environment and increasing energy demand. Different types of energy harvesting technologies such as solar, thermal and wind require excess energy to be stored in batteries, which further adds to the complication and increase in cost to the overall renewable energy system. Integrating the generation and storage of solar energy in a single device would be a more cost effective way towards meeting the increasing energy demand due to its simplicity in design and less space consumptions. Herein, a sustainable photovoltaic cell integrated with an energy storage device was developed that addresses short term photovoltaic (PV) power variability using dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) in a tandem structure with thin film based lithium-ion battery. As lithium based batteries have been addressed as efficient charge storage system due to its high energy storage density and extended lifecycle performance. The integrated structure uses a common anode (titanium foil coated with anatase TiO2 on both sides which serves as DSSC and lithium ion battery anode) which showed an open-circuit voltage of ~3 V, a short circuit current density of ~40mAhg-1 and a storage efficiency of ~0.80%. This new device can serve as power source to mobile storage applications

    Sustainable energy solutions for stand-alone IoT devices : Technical, environmental and economic assessment to find alternative tecnologies to power RecySmart and Single Sensor IoT devices

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    This work is intended to provide a high-level assessment of energy solutions to power Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The criteria for the evaluation are technical, environmental, and economic. Different technologies will be covered with support from published scientific research and the market existing solutions. The analysis will be done for a particular case study but the followed steps should serve for others looking to tackle the same issue. The intended outcome is a preselection of one or more alternatives to improve the power supply of the case study devices according to the mentioned criteria. The selection of alternatives will also include a guideline on which developments to follow and the main reasons to do so. The work is done from a business and practical perspective, meaning that after taking a first decision thanks to this work or the steps followed on it, the R&D departments of the ICT (Information and communications technologies) companies applying the methodology should then study the selected alternatives in a deeper technical analysis. In the conclusions, general next steps to carry out the development will be established. Throughout the work, it is demonstrated that there is not one single combination of technologies that is the best in all aspects, for all weathers and locations, and all applications. On the contrary, the assessment reveals how different devices and conditions affect the decision on which is the most suitable decision. In addition, there is not any alternative that has the best ranking in all aspects, as there are always technical, environmental and economical compromises. As for the specific assessment for the current status of RecySmart device (the first device of the case study), it is recommendable to follow the development towards solar photovoltaic panels in combination with Li-ion or LiPo rechargeable batteries to remove the current primary cells. The selected alternative will involve some developments but has the capability of reducing the cost of the device’s power supply by 48.9% in a 5 years period, while reducing the overall environmental impact. Thanks to the use of a solar panel and secondary cells, it is possible to eliminate 92.1% of the lithium batteries used (moving from primary to secondary cells) and ensuring the autonomy of the device. Finally, for the Single Sensor studied (the second device of the case study), the recommendation is different to the one of RecySmart, as it is more suitable to use secondary cells but without energy harvesting unit

    Recent advances in eco-friendly and cost-effective materials towards sustainable dye-sensitized solar cells

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    Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), as emerging photovoltaic technology, have been thoroughly and extensively investigated in the last three decades. Since their first appearance in 1991, DSSCs have gained increasing attention and have been classified as feasible alternatives to conventional photovoltaic devices due to their numerous advantages, such as cheap and simple preparation methods, the possibility of being integrated in buildings and astonishing performances under indoor and diffuse illumination conditions. Photoconversion efficiencies of up to 14% and 8% have been obtained for lab-scale devices and modules, respectively. Albeit the efforts made, these values seem arduous to be outdone, at least under simulated solar radiation. Nevertheless, recent lab-scale systems have demonstrated photoconversion efficiencies of up to 33% under indoor illumination (i.e. 1000 lux) leading to an actual Renaissance (or Revival) of these devices. It is worth mentioning that scientists in this field are developing innovative materials aiming at long-term and efficient devices, being the concept of sustainability often set apart. However, in light of effective commercialization of this technology, stability, efficiency and sustainability should be considered as the essential keywords. Nowadays, DSSCs are finding a “new way back” towards sustainability and rather a huge number of reports have focused on the preparation of green and cost-effective materials to replace the standard ones. In this scenario, the present review aims to give an overview of the most adopted strategies to enhance the sustainability of materials in classical DSSC components (e.g. sensitizer, redox couple, electrolyte and counter-electrode), including smart synthesis and deposition procedures, which currently represent utmost important topics in the scientific community

    Roadmap on Photovoltaic Absorber Materials for Sustainable Energy Conversion

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    Photovoltaics (PVs) are a critical technology for curbing growing levels of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and meeting increases in future demand for low-carbon electricity. In order to fulfil ambitions for net-zero carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) emissions worldwide, the global cumulative capacity of solar PVs must increase by an order of magnitude from 0.9 TWp in 2021 to 8.5 TWp by 2050 according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, which is considered to be a highly conservative estimate. In 2020, the Henry Royce Institute brought together the UK PV community to discuss the critical technological and infrastructure challenges that need to be overcome to address the vast challenges in accelerating PV deployment. Herein, we examine the key developments in the global community, especially the progress made in the field since this earlier roadmap, bringing together experts primarily from the UK across the breadth of the photovoltaics community. The focus is both on the challenges in improving the efficiency, stability and levelized cost of electricity of current technologies for utility-scale PVs, as well as the fundamental questions in novel technologies that can have a significant impact on emerging markets, such as indoor PVs, space PVs, and agrivoltaics. We discuss challenges in advanced metrology and computational tools, as well as the growing synergies between PVs and solar fuels, and offer a perspective on the environmental sustainability of the PV industry. Through this roadmap, we emphasize promising pathways forward in both the short- and long-term, and for communities working on technologies across a range of maturity levels to learn from each other.Comment: 160 pages, 21 figure
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