The introduction of a practical solar cell by Bell Laboratory, which had an efficiency of approximately 6%, signified photovoltaic technology as a potentially viable energy source. Continuous efforts have been made to increase power conversion efficiency (PCE). In the present review, the advances made in solar cells (SCs) are summarized. Material and device engineering are described for achieving enhanced light absorption, electrical properties, stability and higher PCE in SCs. The strategies in materials and coating techniques for large area deposition are further elaborated, which is expected to be helpful for realizing high-efficiency SCs. The methods of light-harvesting in SCs via anti-reflecting coatings, surface texturing, patterned growth of nanostructure, and plasmonics are discussed. Moreover, progress in mechanical methods that are used for sun tracking are elaborated. The assistance of the above two protocols in maximizing the power output of SCs are discussed in detail. Finally, further research efforts needed to overcome roadblocks in commercialization were highlighted and perspectives on the future development of this rapidly advancing field are offered.

Solid-state thermoelectric energy conversion devices attract broad research interests because of their great promises in waste heat recycling, space power generation, deep water power generation, and temperature control, but the search for essential thermoelectric materials with high performance still remains a great challenge. As an emerging low cost, solution-processed thermoelectric material, inorganic metal halide perovskites CsPb(I_1–xBr_x)₃ under mechanical deformation is systematically investigated using the first-principle calculations and the Boltzmann transport theory. It is demonstrated that halogen mixing and mechanical deformation are efficient methods to tailor electronic structures and charge transport properties in CsPb(I_1–xBr_x)₃ synergistically. Halogen mixing leads to band splitting and anisotropic charge transport due to symmetry-breaking-induced intrinsic strains. Such band splitting reconstructs the band edge and can decrease the charge carrier effective mass, leading to excellent charge transport properties. Mechanical deformation can further push the orbital energies apart from each other in a more controllable manner, surpassing the impact from intrinsic strains. Both anisotropic charge transport properties andZT values are sensitive to the direction and magnitude of strain, showing a wide range of variation from 20% to 400% (with a ZT value of up to 1.85) compared with unstrained cases. The power generation efficiency of the thermoelectric device can reach as high as approximately 12% using mixed halide perovskites under tailored mechanical deformation when the heat-source is at 500 K and the cold side is maintained at 300 K, surpassing the performance of many existing bulk thermoelectric materials.

Nickel selenide electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with a high efficiency and a low-cost have a significant potential in the development of water splitting. However, the inferiority of the high overpotential and poor stability restricts their practical applications. Herein, a composite nanostructure consists of ultrasmall NiSe₂ nanocrystals embedded on graphene by microwave reaction is reported. The prepared NiSe₂/reduced graphite oxide (rGO) electrocatalyst exhibited a high HER activity with an overpotential of 158 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm² and a corresponding moderate Tafel slope of 56 mV/dec in alkaline electrolyte. In addition, a high retention of electrochemical properties (approximately 100%) was demonstrated with an unchangeable microstructure after 100 h of continuous operation.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have attracted intensive attention owing to their ultrahigh theoretical energy density. Nevertheless, the practical application of Li-S batteries is prevented by uncontrollable shuttle effect and retarded reaction kinetics. To address the above issues, lithium fluoride (LiF) was employed to regulate the surface chemistry of routine separator. The functional separator demonstrates a great ability to suppress active S loss and protect lithium anode. This work provides a facile strategy for the development of advanced Li-S batteries.

In this paper, a facile strategy is proposed to controllably synthesize mesoporous Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/C nanocomposite embedded in graphene matrix as lithium-ion battery anode via the co-assembly of Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ (LTO) precursor, GO, and phenolic resin. The obtained composites, which consists of a LTO core, a phenolic-resin-based carbon shell, and a porous frame constructed by rGO, can be denoted as LTO/C/rGO and presents a hierarchical structure. Owing to the advantages of the hierarchical structure, including a high surface area and a high electric conductivity, the mesoporous LTO/C/rGO composite exhibits a greatly improved rate capability as the anode material in contrast to the conventional LTO electrode.

The increase of insulation thickness (IT) results in the decrease of the heat demand and heat medium temperature. A mathematical model on the optimum environmental insulation thickness (OEIT) for minimizing the annual total environmental impact was established based on the amount of energy and energy grade reduction. Besides, a case study was conducted based on a residential community with a combined heat and power (CHP)-based district heating system (DHS) in Tianjin, China. Moreover, the effect of IT on heat demand, heat medium temperature, exhaust heat, extracted heat, coal consumption, carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions as well as the effect of three types of insulation materials (i.e., expanded polystyrene, rock wool and glass wool) on the OEIT and minimum annual total environmental impact were studied. The results reveal that the optimization model can be used to determine the OEIT. When the OEIT of expanded polystyrene, rock wool and glass wool is used, the annual total environmental impact can be reduced by 84.563%, 83.211%, and 86.104%, respectively. It can be found that glass wool is more beneficial to the environment compared with expanded polystyrene and rock wool.

This paper attempts to resolve the reported contradiction in the literature about the characteristics of high-performance/cost-effective fenestration of residential buildings, particularly in hot climates. The considered issues are the window glazing property (ten commercial glazing types), facade orientation (four main orientations), window-to-wall ratio (WWR) (0.2–0.8), and solar shading overhangs and side-fins (nine shading conditions). The results of the simulated runs reveal that the glazing quality has a superior effect over the other fenestration parameters and controls their effect on the energy consumption of residential buildings. Thus, using low-performance windows on buildings yields larger effects of WWR, facade orientation, and solar shading than high-performance windows. As the WWR increases from 0.2 to 0.8, the building energy consumption using the low-performance window increases 6.46 times than that using the high-performance window. The best facade orientation is changed from north to south according to the glazing properties. In addition, the solar shading need is correlated as a function of a window-glazing property and WWR. The cost analysis shows that the high-performance windows without solar shading are cost-effective as they have the largest net present cost compared to low-performance windows with or without solar shading. Accordingly, replacing low-performance windows with high-performance ones, in an existing residential building, saves about 12.7 MWh of electricity and 11.05 tons of CO₂ annually.

In this paper, a novel cooling control strategy as part of the smart energy system that can balance thermal comfort against building energy consumption by using the sensing and machine programming technology was investigated. For this goal, a general form of a building was coupled by the smart cooling system (SCS) and the consumption of energy with thermal comfort cooling of persons simulated by using the EnergyPlus software and compared with similar buildings without SCS. At the beginning of the research, using the data from a survey in a randomly selected group of hundreds and by analyzing and verifying the results of the specific relationship between the different groups of people in the statistical society, the body mass index (BMI) and their thermal comfort temperature were obtained, and the sample building was modeled using the EnergyPlus software. The result show that if an intelligent ventilation system that can calculate the thermal comfort temperature was used in accordance with the BMI of persons, it can save up to 35% of the cooling load of the building yearly.

Wind-lens turbines (WLTs) exhibit the prospect of a higher output power and more suitability for urban areas in comparison to bare wind turbines. The wind-lens typically comprises a diffuser shroud coupled with a flange appended to the exit periphery of the shroud. Wind-lenses can boost the velocity of the incoming wind through the turbine rotor owing to the creation of a low-pressure zone downstream the flanged diffuser. In this paper, the aerodynamic performance of the wind-lens is computationally assessed using high-fidelity transient CFD simulations for shrouds with different profiles, aiming to assess the effect of change of some design parameters such as length, area ratio and flange height of the diffuser shroud on the power augmentation. The power coefficient (C_p) is calculated by solving the URANS equations with the aid of the SST k–ω model. Furthermore, comparisons with experimental data for validation are accomplished to prove that the proposed methodology could be able to precisely predict the aerodynamic behavior of the wind-lens turbine. The results affirm that wind-lens with cycloidal profile yield an augmentation of about 58% increase in power coefficient compared to bare wind turbine of the same rotor swept-area. It is also emphasized that diffusers (cycloid type) of small length could achieve a twice increase in power coefficient while maintaining large flange heights.

A series of inline pico hydropower systems, which could be used in confined space, especially for water distribution networks (WDNs), was designed and investigated. The turbine with an eye-shaped vertical water baffle was developed to evaluate the hydraulic performance. A three-dimensional dynamic mesh was employed and the inlet velocity was considered as the inlet boundary condition, whereas the outlet boundary was set as the outflow. Then, numerical simulations were conducted and the standard k-ε turbulence model was found to be the best capable of predicting flow features through the comparison with the experimental results. The effects of the opening diameter of the water baffle and installation angle of the rotor on the flow field in the turbine were investigated. The results suggested that the water baffle opening at d = 30 mm and the rotor at a 52° angle could achieve the highest efficiency of 5.93%. The proper eye-shaped baffle not only accelerates the fluid flow and generates positive hydrodynamic torque, but also eliminates the flow separation. The scheme proposed in this paper can be exploited for practical applications in the water pipelines at various conditions and power requirements.