Enhancing solar cell sustainability using ceramics-based reinforced coversheets: TiO₂-infused COC fabricated via industry 4.0 FDM

The present situation demonstrates an intense need in advancing renewable energy technologies for electricity production. From the past twenty years, the utilization of solar PV panels for power production has expanded significantly to meet worldwide energy demands. In this context, many investigations are conducted to enhance the sustainability and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of photovoltaic (PV)cells. One of the factors causing decreased PCE in solar cells is reflection loss. The antireflective coating (ARC) on the solar cells significantly increases the PCE and optical behaviour. Currently, PV cells cannot transmit sunlight without reflection due to the lack of an ideal ARC. This study examines cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) coversheets to minimize reflection loss and enhance the effectiveness of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells power conversion. The titanium dioxide (TiO₂) was combined with COC (COCT) at different wt%. To enhance the antireflection characteristics. The COCT coversheets were fabricated by Industry 4.0 enabled fused deposition modelling technique. The impact of varying weight percent of TiO₂reinforced COC on the electrical, morphological and optical properties of multi-crystalline silicon PV cells, together with surface temperature was examined. The COCT3 sample exhibited a PCE of 20.89 % and 23.47 % under direct sunlight and neodymium light in both uncontrolled and regulated conditions. The COCT3 coversheet demonstrated significant findings in temperature evaluation, exhibited lower temperatures of 37.6 °C in unregulated and 47.9 °C in regulated conditions. The experimental findings indicated that COCT coversheets surpassed COC and various other coversheet specimens in efficiency. Thus, TiO₂reinforced COC anti-reflective coversheets have proven to be exceptional anti-reflective coversheet materials for solar cells with optimum efficiency.