Thin Layers for Applications in Photovoltaic Solar Cells

A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Engineering for Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2026 | Viewed by 283

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Guest Editor
Institute of Engineering Materials, University of Rzeszow, Pigonia 1, 35-310 Rzeszow, Poland
Interests: absorption and reflection spectroscopy of solids and thin films; radiation defects in laser materials and materials for optoelectronics; influence of heat treatment and irradiation on optical properties of materials
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Dear Colleagues,

Solar energy is a stable, clean, and unlimited source of energy reaching the surface of the Earth. Photovoltaic devices are one of the most common solutions used to convert solar energy to electricity. Currently, the solar panel market is dominated by traditional silicon cells, but their production is still expensive. That is why, in recent years, there has been a growing demand for new, better, and cheap materials. Thin-layer sunlight has become an alternative to traditional devices, e.g., PSC, CZTS/SE, CIGS, CIS, CDTE, DSSC, PEC, and MOS. Many of these solutions are characterized by low energy consumption in the production process, low production cost, high theoretical performance, chemical neutrality, and ease of synthesis; hence, they seem promising as materials for use in photovoltaic devices.

Please consider submitting your work to this Special Issue. The topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Thin film deposition for solar cells;
- Investigation of thin film for solar cells (optical properties, structural characterization, I-V characterization, etc.);
- Modification of thin layers for photovoltaics (e.g., post-growth annealing treatment);
- Nanoparticles buffer layers for PV.

Dr. Piotr Potera
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • thin solid films for PV
  • buffer layer for PV
  • optical properties
  • structural characterization
  • I-V characterization

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 1423 KB  
Article
Electric and Thermal Performance Evaluation of a Serpentine-Pipe PVT Solar Collector
by Miaoxian Lyu, Haoyun Ke, Jianyong Zhan and Jicheng Zhou
Coatings 2025, 15(10), 1202; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings15101202 - 12 Oct 2025
Viewed by 234
Abstract
The promotion and application of a solar photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector is increasingly favored. In this paper, a solar PVT collector with a serpentine pipe has been investigated by using the double iteration strategy. The simulation results are in good agreement with the [...] Read more.
The promotion and application of a solar photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collector is increasingly favored. In this paper, a solar PVT collector with a serpentine pipe has been investigated by using the double iteration strategy. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The effects of ambient temperature, solar irradiance, distance between pipes, pipe diameter and mass flow rate on the thermal efficiency and photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) are discussed. Specifically, the results show that with an increase in the ambient temperature, the thermal efficiency of the collectors increases and the PCE decreases. By contrast, as the inlet water temperature decreases, the heat dissipation capacity is enhanced, which in turn both improves its thermal efficiency and PCE. Furthermore, the reduction in the distance between pipes also helps to improve thermal efficiency. However, when the distance between pipes is reduced to 0.1 m, the reduction in the thermal efficiency is not significant. It is worth noting that there exists an optimal solution to the influence of the pipe diameter on the thermal performance of the collector. This implies that the large pipe diameter will reduce the thermal efficiency to some extent. In addition, as the mass flow rate increases, the thermal efficiency is improved, and the plate temperature and outlet water temperature decrease simultaneously, with a greater decrease in outlet water temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thin Layers for Applications in Photovoltaic Solar Cells)
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