Spectral filtering experimentation on Photovoltaic cells using novel bio-filter made from copper coated hibiscus-ethanol extract

Abstract

The challenges facing solar power grid system in Africa is huge. Most salient of these challenges is the inefficiency of the photovoltaic (PV) module to sustain its output for more than a year. Certainly, the harsh weather condition in the region can be said to be one of the reasons for the shortcoming that was earlier highlighted. In this research, bio-filters were suggested to filter the harmful radiation hitting the PV module. The bio-filter is made up of copper coated hibiscus extract. The hibiscus extract was done using ethanol solution. It was observed that the bio-filter was able to filter the some of the harmful radiation as expected. Using the current, voltage and power output, it can be observed that the efficiency of the PV module improved by >8%. This result is impressive compared to other simple optical filters. The quantity of the harmful solar radiation was not estimated because of the limitations of the equipment used for the research. The authors recommend that the spray pyrolysis device be used to have the exact layer of the bio-filter. It is also recommended that the degradation of the spray film due to prolonged exposure to sunlight should be studied within some months. More work can be done in estimating the percentage of infrared the biofilter can absorb per time.