A photovoltaic (PV) cell is a semiconductor device that is sensitive to the temperature. The solar radiation will convert into electricity through the PV cell, and the rest is converted into thermal, which raises the temperature of the PV cell. The performance of a photovoltaic (PV) module depends on some factors, such as the cell materials, PV system devices, and environmental. Temperature is one of the significant factors that affect the PV module efficiency due to the exposure of the solar radiation. The thermal management of the PV module is essential for PV applications. Graphene has unique properties that make it interesting for fundamental studies and future applications. One of the applications is solar cells. Graphene has a high thermal conductivity. Propose as a good heat sinking and low-temperature rise on the device. Graphene, in the form of a graphite sheet, can be used as a layer on a silicon solar cell. Applying the graphite sheet on the silicon solar cell, which sensitive to the temperature, could suggest a graphite sheet as a heat dissipator on the module to gain better performance of the silicon solar cell module. The PV module consists of glass, ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA), solar cell, graphite sheet, EVA, and polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) from top to bottom.
The experimental method was divided into two parts, simulation, and actual condition. Software simulation is used to predict the actual condition of the solar cell. The software uses in this experiment are PC1D and ANSYS. Second, the experiment was done by the real condition. The simulation and measurement under the real conditions show that the increasing temperature is decreasing the efficiency of the solar module. Results of PC1D show that under different temperatures, 20 to 50°C, the temperature affects the current and the voltage of the solar cell. It also means the fill factor and efficiency affected. The voltage is inversely proportional to the temperature. Since the temperature increases, the voltage will decrease. However, the current is directly proportional to the temperature. The temperature increase will slightly increase the current of the solar cell. Increasing the temperature will reduce its bandgap. The result of the ANSYS simulation shows similar results. The module temperature gets higher, and its efficiency will lower. Meanwhile, the difference in the temperature between the original PV module and the PV module with one layer of graphite sheet is around 2°C. The average temperature on the original PV module is 40.277°C, and the PV module with the graphite sheet reaches 37.461°C. The thicker graphite sheet can reduce the temperature of the solar module. It can reach 6°C different from the original one. The graphite sheet plays the central role of the most heat absorber.
In real conditions, the investigation was done in several days. Under the low solar irradiation, the difference between the original and the module with the graphite sheet is insignificant, around 0.2°C – 0.8°C. The difference in the temperature of about 2°C – 3°C reaches under high solar irradiation on a sunny day. This result is supporting the simulation result using ANSYS. The difference in the simulation around 2°C. The trend of reducing efficiency is significant since the temperature increase in the original PV module. On the other hand, the efficiency in the PV module with the graphite sheet is more stable. The graphite sheet is successful works as the heat dissipator on the PV module. From all of the results, we can conclude that the usage of the graphite sheet as a layer is successful in reducing the temperature on the PV modules.

Title page..............................i
Certificate of Approval...............iii
Acknowledgment..........................v
Abstract..............................vii
Table of Content.......................ix
List of Tables.........................xi
List of Figures......................xiii
Chapter 1 Introduction..................1
1.1.Overview............................3
1.2.Introduction to Solar cell..........5
1.3.Introduction to Graphite Sheet......9
Chapter 2 Literature Review............13
2.1.Solar cell.........................15
2.2.Graphite Sheet.....................27
2.3.Propose of study...................31
Chapter 3 Experimental Method..........33
3.1.PC1D Simulation....................35
3.2.ANSYS Simulation...................40
3.3.Experiment.........................46
Chapter 4 Results and Discussions......51
4.1.PC1D results.......................53
4.2.ANSYS results......................56
4.3.Experiment results.................62
Chapter 5 Conclusions..................69
Chapter 6 Future Work..................75
References.............................77
Appendix...............................83
Appendix A.............................83
Appendix B.............................84

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