Bulk heterojunction solar cells have been extensively studied owing to their great potential for cost-effective photovoltaic devices. Although recent advances resulted in the fabrication of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/fullerene derivative based solar cells with efficiencies in the range 4.4-5.0%, theoretical calculations predict that the development of novel donor materials with a lower bandg...

The formula for maximum efficiency (ηmax) of heat conversion into electricity by a thermoelectric device in terms of the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) has been widely used to assess the desirability of thermoelectric materials for devices. Unfortunately, the ηmax values vary greatly depending on how the average ZT values are used, raising questions about the applicability of ZT in the case...

Most of the ac-ac converters used in home-appliances are based on single-output dc-link inverters, which provides a cost-effective and straight-forward solution. However, this twostage power conversion decreases power density and efficiency. Direct ac-ac conversion has been thoroughly studied in the past. However, the complex control scheme and higher cost has prevented it from being used in lo...

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