The technical and economic sustainability of photovoltaic (PV) systems is heavily affected by the cost and performances of the adopted PV cells. Solar concentrators represent an effective alternative to reduce the solar cell surface and, at the same time, to increase the global conversion efficiency. Such systems include optic elements to concentrate the solar radiation to a small area where hi...

MOTIVATION In response to the DOE SunShot initiative to achieve utility scale solar power generation at $1 per watt peak, Sandia National Laboratories is investigating a microsystems-enabled photovoltaics (MEPV) approach that combines the high conversion efficiencies of concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) with the form factor and low system costs of flat panel PV. MEPV combines solar cells having ...

Solar technology offers great potential in terms of supplying the world’s energy needs. However, its current contribution to the world is still limited. The main factor is related to high initial cost of building the system. This paper will provide an up-to-date review of solar concentrators and their benefits to make solar technology affordable. It will also analyse on some of the existing sol...

GaN nanostructures with various effective refractive index profiles (Linear, Cubic, and Quintic functions) were numerically studied as broadband omnidirectional antireflection structures for concentrator photovoltaics by using three-dimensional finite difference time domain (3D-FDTD) method. Effective medium theory was used to design the surface structures corresponding to different refractive ...

Mass casualty events and disasters, both natural and human-generated, occur frequently around the world and can generate scores of injured or ill victims in need of resources. Of the available medical supplies, oxygen remains the critical consumable resource in disaster management. Strategic management of oxygen supplies in disaster scenarios remains a priority. Hospitals have large supplies of...