Spectral splitting is a promising design methodology that can significantly improve the performance of hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) collectors. However, conventional spectral-splitting PVT (SSPVT) collectors require additional optical components, which significantly increases the complexity and cost of the collector. This study proposes SSPVT collector designs that employ semi-transparent photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, which act as both the electricity generator as well as the spectral-splitting optical filter. In these designs, a part of the solar spectrum is absorbed by the semi-transparent solar cells for electricity generation, while the rest (especially the near-infrared region of the solar spectrum) is transmitted to an absorber where it generates a high-temperature thermal energy output. Three types of emerging semi-transparent solar cells, i.e., cadmium telluride (CdTe), perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) and polymer solar cells (PSCs), are selected for investigation in this context. A comprehensive two-dimensional model of such SSPVT collectors is developed and used to investigate their electrical and thermal performance. The results show that the proposed designs are effective at thermally decoupling the PV cells from the solar thermal absorber, thereby promoting a higher electrical efficiency and enabling the simultaneous generation of low-temperature thermal energy (<60 °C), along with high-temperature thermal energy (100–200 °C) under one sun. For example, a PVSC-based SSPVT collector is shown to be capable of simultaneously generating: electricity with an efficiency of 13.8%, high-temperature heat (150 °C) with a thermal efficiency of 21.1%, and low-temperature heat (50 °C) with a thermal efficiency of 22.5%. The relative performance between the CdTe-, PVSC- and PSC-based collectors depend on the relative value of the high-temperature thermal energy to that of electricity. It is concluded that semi-transparent solar cells are of great promise in this application, and can give rise to next-generation, high-performance solar collectors.

光谱分裂是一种很有前途的设计方法，可以显着提高混合光伏-热 (PV-T) 集热器的性能。然而，传统的光谱分离 PVT (SSPVT) 收集器需要额外的光学组件，这显着增加了收集器的复杂性和成本。这项研究提出了 SSPVT 收集器设计，它采用半透明光伏 (PV) 太阳能电池，既充当发电机又充当分光滤光器。在这些设计中，一部分太阳光谱被半透明太阳能电池吸收用于发电，而其余部分（尤其是太阳光谱的近红外区域）被传输到吸收器，在那里产生高温热能输出。IE在这方面，选择碲化镉 (CdTe)、钙钛矿太阳能电池 (PVSC) 和聚合物太阳能电池 (PSC) 进行研究。开发了此类 SSPVT 集热器的综合二维模型，并用于研究它们的电气和热性能。结果表明，所提出的设计可有效地将光伏电池与太阳能吸热器进行热解耦，从而提高电效率并同时产生低温热能 (<60 °C) 和高温热能。一个太阳下的热能 (100–200 °C)。例如，基于 PVSC 的 SSPVT 集热器被证明能够同时产生：效率为 13.8% 的电力、热效率为 21.1% 的高温热量 (150 °C)、和低温加热（50°C），热效率为 22.5%。基于 CdTe、PVSC 和 PSC 的集热器之间的相对性能取决于高温热能与电能的相对值。得出的结论是，半透明太阳能电池在该应用中具有广阔的前景，可以产生下一代高性能太阳能集热器。