Experimental investigation on solar cell cooled by disodium hydrogen phosphate dodecahydrate material, activated hydro biochar and boron nitride nanoparticles: A techno-enviro-econo assessment

Background The rise in the surrounding temperature severely influences the thermal and electrical performance of the solar photovoltaic (PV) panel, which led to reduction in the performance and life span of the plant. In order to increase the life span of PV plants using phase change materials (PCM) was found to be more promising and significant role by researchers. Methods In this research work, an experimental investigation is performed using pure disodium hydrogen phosphate dodecahydrate (DHPD) PCM by adding mass load of 40% activated hydro biochar (A-BC) with 2% boron nitride (BN) nanoparticles to one of the modified PV panels. The experimental setup consists of referenced PV panel, modified PV panel with pure DHPD PCM (PV/PCM), and modified PV panel with DHPD PCM/40% A-BC/2% BN (PV/PCM/A-BC/BN). Significant findings The experimental tested results, suggested that the for PV/PCM/A-BC/BN panel the relative average cell temperature was reduced by of 26.46%-34.05%, leading to a relative power improvement and relative electrical efficiency by 6.67%-13.17%, and 4.84%-6.33%, respectively, against the PV/PCM panel and referenced PV panel. Moreover, the estimated economic assessment was 0.0244 $/kWh-0.0467 $/kWh and environmental analysis was 0.545 ton/year-1.543 ton/year depends upon the number of operational days of a PV plant and type of PV panel used. Among, those PV/PCM/A-BC/BN panel showed more favorable results, against the PV/PCM panel and the referenced PV panel.