Using Photovoltaic systems is gradually expanded by increasing energy demand. Abundance and availability of this energy, has turned to one of the most important sources of renewable energy. Unfortunately, photovoltaic systems have two big problems: first, those have very low energy conversion efficiency (in act between 12 and 42 percent under certain circumstances). Second, the power produced b...

Semiconductor-based photocatalytic, photoelectrochemical, and photovoltaic solar-energy conversion has been considered very promising to address the energy and environmental challenges. At the heart of the technology is the lack of suitable semiconductor materials and efficient systems that can perform the solar-energy conversion efficiently and inexpensively. Much work needs to be done in this...

Photovoltaic (PV) technologies for solar energy conversion represent promising routes to green and renewable energy generation. Despite relevant PV technologies being available for more than half a century, the production of solar energy remains costly, largely owing to low power conversion efficiencies of solar cells. The main difficulty in improving the efficiency of PV energy conversion lies...

Three conventional and novel hydrogen and liquid fuel production schemes, i.e. steam methane reforming (SMR), solar SMR, and hybrid solar-redox processes are investigated in the current study. H2 (and liquid fuel) productivity, energy conversion efficiency, and associated CO2 emissions are evaluated based on a consistent set of process conditions and assumptions. The conventional SMR is estimat...

Solar rechargeable flow cells (SRFCs) provide an attractive approach for in situ capture and storage of intermittent solar energy via photoelectrochemical regeneration of discharged redox species for electricity generation. However, overall SFRC performance is restricted by inefficient photoelectrochemical reactions. Here we report an efficient SRFC based on a dual-silicon photoelectrochemical ...

Overview Control systems for heliostat fields are designed to accurately direct sunlight at a specific target. They track the sun’s movement across the sky while simultaneously correcting for wind, foundation shifting and thermal expansion. In addition, control systems monitor and adjust the amount of thermal power reaching the receiver. The receiver converting solar heat into power needs to op...