One of the indexes of stabilization pond is the presence of coliform bacteria in water and wastewater. This study aimed to determine the effect of solar light on coliform variations in stabilization pond. In this experimental study, the effect of light, pH (<7, 7.1–8, 8.1–9), and temperature (10 ºC and 30 ºC) on facultative stabilization pond was studied for six months. The sampling was accompl...

The reliable quantification of ultraviolet (UV) radiation at the earth’s surface requires accurate measurements of spectral global solar UV irradiance in order to determine the UV exposure to human skin and to understand long-term trends in this parameter. Array spectroradiometers (ASRMs) are small, light, robust and cost-effective instruments, and are increasingly used for spectral irradiance ...

We present theoretical considerations as well as detailed numerical design of absorber and emitter for Solar Thermophotovoltaics (STPV) applications. The absorber, consisting of an array of tungsten pyramids, was designed to provide near-unity absorptivity over all solar wavelengths for a wide angular range, enabling it to absorb light effectively from solar sources regardless of concentration....

The cost-effectiveness of market-dominating silicon wafer solar cells plays a key role in determining the competiveness of solar energy with other exhaustible energy sources. Reducing the silicon wafer thickness at a minimized efficiency loss represents a mainstream trend in increasing the cost-effectiveness of wafer-based solar cells. In this paper we demonstrate that, using the advanced light...

A new type of light trapping structure utilizing ring-shaped metallic nanocavity arrays is proposed for the absorption enhancement in ultrathin solar cells with few photonic waveguide modes. Dozens of times of broadband absorption enhancement in the spectral range of 700 to 1100 nm is demonstrated in an ultrathin Si3N4/c-Si/Ag prototype solar cell by means of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD...

We have achieved significant accomplishments on the developing of high-efficiency thin film multi-junction solar cell with nano-scale light management. The highlights include: (1) Developed a computational tool for the detailed balance analysis of nanophotonic structures showing that absorption in a solar cell at all angles is sufficient to calculate and understand the fundamental behavior of n...

In today’s high-tech environment, energy has become the impetus for socio-economic development. As a free, nonpolluting, inexhaustible, renewable energy, solar energy is ideal for generating electricity. Currently, generating electricity by solar energy is inefficient and costly. This paper is a result of prototype our main project which mainly focuses on how to improve its efficiency to develo...

A ternary nanostructured photocatalyst consisting of ZnO/TiO2/Au was designed to achieve an enhanced solar absorption due to the coupling of surface enhanced plasmonic absorption of metal and semiconductor excitons. TiO2 coated ZnO rods with an aspect ratio of 8-12 were decorated with citrate capped gold nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in simulated waste water...

This paper demonstrates a novel method which will automatically track the sun’s position and accordingly change the direction of the solar panel to get the maximum output from the solar cell. As solar energy becomes increasingly popular in all parts of the world, all kinds of solar powered products are flooding the renewable energy market. One of them is the solar panel battery charger, the env...

The emerging field of plasmonics has yielded methods for guiding and localizing light at the nanoscale, well below the scale of the wavelength of light in free space. Now plasmonics researchers are turning their attention to photovoltaics, where design approaches based on plasmonics can be used to improve absorption in photovoltaic devices, permitting a considerable reduction in the physical th...