Iron nanoparticles boost solar panel cooling by 11 degrees, cutting efficiency losses
Researchers embedded iron oxide nanoparticles into wax-based cooling materials attached to solar panels, reducing operating temperatures by 11°C under peak sunlight. The passive system requires no electricity and could unlock significant performance gains for solar farms without costly infrastructure—a promising pathway to improve returns on PV installations.
Originaltitel: Investigating the effect of nano-enhanced phase change material on thermal management of photovoltaic modules
<p>Photovoltaic (PV) energy systems provide a sustainable route for reducing carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels; however, their electrical performance is strongly limited by temperature rise under high solar irradiance. Passive cooling using phase change materials (PCMs) and nano-enhanced phase change materials (NePCMs) offers a low-energy thermal-management strategy for maintaining lower PV operating temperatures. This study experimentally and numerically evaluated three PV module configurations: an uncooled reference module (Module 1), a paraffin PCM-integrated module (Module 2), and a 2 wt% Fe2O3-paraffin NePCM-integrated module (Module 3). The NePCM was prepared by dispersing Fe2O3 nanoparticles into paraffin wax using a two-step method involving magnetic stirring and ultrasonication. Outdoor experi-ments were performed under identical conditions, while an ANSYS Fluent transient numerical model was developed to analyse the thermal response of PV cell configurations. At peak solar irradiance of 1180 W m-2, temperatures of Modules 1, Module 2, and Module 3 were 70.4 degrees C, 62.7 degrees C, and 59.2 degrees C, respectively. Thus, PCM and NePCM reduced module temperature by 7.7 degrees C and 11.2 degrees C, respectively, relative to the uncooled module. Module 3 also produced the highest open-circuit voltage of approximately 20.95 V, maximum power output of 8.68 W, and electrical efficiency of 12.04%, compared with 7.05 W and 9.78% for the reference module. This corre-sponds to a 23.1% improvement in power output and an absolute efficiency gain of 2.26 per-centage points. Numerical results supported the experimental trend, and average PV temperature decreased from 79 degrees C in the reference cell to 66 degrees C with PCM and 55 degrees C with NePCM after 90 min of simulation. Overall, results demonstrated that 2 wt% Fe2O3-paraffin NePCM provides superior passive thermal regulation compared with pure paraffin PCM and improves PV electrical per-formance without external power consumption.</p>