Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Sep 20;23(18):7995.
doi: 10.3390/s23187995.

Effect of Protective Layer on the Performance of Monocrystalline Silicon Cell for Indoor Light Harvesting

Tarek M Hammam  1   2 , Badriyah Alhalaili  2 , M S Abd El-Sadek  1   3 , Amr Attia Abuelwafa  1
Affiliations

Effect of Protective Layer on the Performance of Monocrystalline Silicon Cell for Indoor Light Harvesting

Tarek M Hammam et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

The development of renewable energy sources has grown increasingly as the world shifts toward lowering carbon emissions and supporting sustainability. Solar energy is one of the most promising renewable energy sources, and its harvesting potential has gone beyond typical solar panels to small, portable devices. Also, the trend toward smart buildings is becoming more prevalent at the same time as sensors and small devices are becoming more integrated, and the demand for dependable, sustainable energy sources will increase. Our work aims to tackle the issue of identifying the most suitable protective layer for small optical devices that can efficiently utilize indoor light sources. To conduct our research, we designed and tested a model that allowed us to compare the performance of many small panels made of monocrystalline cells laminated with three different materials: epoxy resin, an ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), under varying light intensities from LED and CFL sources. The methods employed encompass contact angle measurements of the protective layers, providing insights into their wettability and hydrophobicity, which indicates protective layer performance against humidity. Reflection spectroscopy was used to evaluate the panels' reflectance properties across different wavelengths, which affect the light amount arrived at the solar cell. Furthermore, we characterized the PV panels' electrical behavior by measuring short-circuit current (ISC), open-circuit voltage (VOC), maximum power output (Pmax), fill factor (FF), and load resistance (R). Our findings offer valuable insights into each PV panel's performance and the protective layer material's effect. Panels with ETFE layers exhibited remarkable hydrophobicity with a mean contact angle of 77.7°, indicating resistance against humidity-related effects. Also, panels with ETFE layers consistently outperformed others as they had the highest open circuit voltage (VOC) ranging between 1.63-4.08 V, fill factor (FF) between 35.9-67.3%, and lowest load resistance (R) ranging between 11,268-772 KΩ.cm-2 under diverse light intensities from various light sources, as determined by our results. This makes ETFE panels a promising option for indoor energy harvesting, especially for powering sensors with low power requirements. This information could influence future research in developing energy harvesting solutions, thereby making a valuable contribution to the progress of sustainable energy technology.

Keywords: encapsulation; energy-harvesting solutions; indoor energy harvesting; lamination; monocrystalline; protective layer; smart buildings.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The structure of each monocrystalline PV panel. (a) a PET panel that consists of a solar cell between two layers of EVE above the PCB board and laminated with a PET film; (b) an ETFE panel that consists of a solar cell between two layers of EVE above the PCB board, and laminated with a film of ETFE, (c) an Epoxy resin panel that consists of two layers of epoxy encapsulating the solar cell above the PCB board.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A 3D schematic illustrates the connections of the photovoltaic (PV) panel, positioned under the light source within the enclosed black box, to a variable resistance, ammeter, and voltameter, arranged on a breadboard to make up an indoor electrical characterization measurement system.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A circuit diagram used in the electrical characterization measurement system consists of a PV panel, a voltmeter, an ammeter, and a variable resistance.
Figure 4
Figure 4
A histogram of the differences in the mean values of the measured contact angles (CA) for the ETFE, epoxy resin, and PET panels.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Water droplets on the surfaces of (a) PET panel, (b) ETFE panel and (c) Epoxy resin panel as captured from OCA camera.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The reflection spectrum of PET, ETFE, and Epoxy resin protective layer PV panels in the wavelength range of 200–1000 nm, and the shaded area shows the behavior of each PV panel reflection in the typically LED emit region between 400 and 700 nm.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The I-V curves for the three PV panels under LED illumination were (a) I-V for the PET panel, (b) curves for the ETFE panel and (c) for the epoxy panel.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The I-V curves for the three PV panels under CFL illumination were (a) I-V for the PET panel, (b) curves for the ETFE panel and (c) for the epoxy panel.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Output power P versus voltage V of the three PV panels under LED, (a) P-V for the PET panel, (b) curves for the ETFE panel and (c) for the epoxy panel.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Output power P versus voltage V of the three PV panels under CFL, (a) P-V for the PET panel, (b) curves for the ETFE panel and (c) for the epoxy panel.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Agrawal Y., Bhagoria J., Gautam A., Chaurasiya P.K., Dhanraj J.A., Solomon J.M., Salyan S. Experimental evaluation of hydrothermal performance of solar air heater with discrete roughened plate. Appl. Therm. Eng. 2022;211:118379. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2022.118379. - DOI
    1. Jayakumar H., Lee K., Lee W.S., Raha A., Kim Y., Raghunathan V. Powering the internet of things; Proceedings of the 2014 International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design; La Jolla, CA, USA. 11–13 August 2014; pp. 375–380.
    1. Matiko J.W., Grabham N.J., Beeby S.P., Tudor M.J. Review of the application of energy harvesting in buildings. Meas. Sci. Technol. 2013;25:012002. doi: 10.1088/0957-0233/25/1/012002. - DOI
    1. Reich N.v., Van Sark W., Turkenburg W. Charge yield potential of indoor-operated solar cells incorporated into Product Integrated Photovoltaic (PIPV) Renew. Energy. 2011;36:642–647. doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2010.07.018. - DOI
    1. Jäger-Waldau A. PV Status Report 2012. Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Institute for Energy and Transport; Brussels, Belgium: 2012. p. 118.

LinkOut - more resources