Photovoltaic (PV) technology using organic solar cells have attracted much attention, as it is a simple and efficient way to convert solar energy into usable electricity. At present, bulk­heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells, which are based on conjugated p­type polymers and n­type fullerene derivatives, have been intensively investigated in both academia and industry. Organic and metallated conjugated small molecules (SM) represent an intriguing and promising class of materials. Atomic­thick 2D nanosheets have attracted tremendous attention recently because of their novel electronic structures and physical properties. This thesis describes the synthesis and characterization of some series of organic and metallated aryleneethynylenes and their applications in BHJ solar cells. To begin with, a brief overview on the background of organic solar cells (OSCs) and two­dimensional (2D) nanomaterials was presented in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, a new series of multichromophoric small molecular systems of ruthenium(II)­bis(aryleneethynylene) compounds containing triphenylamine and/or thiophene as the donor and benzothiadiazole as the acceptor were designed and obtained by straightforward synthesis and purification procedures with reasonable yields. These ruthenium complexes absorb strongly in the visible region which are potentially attractive materials for photovoltaic cell applications. The best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.66% was achieved for D1 with the open­circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.51 V, short­circuit current density (Jsc) of 4.24 mA cm­2 and fill factor (FF) of 0.31 under illumination of an AM 1.5 solar­cell simulator. Furthermore, in Chapter 3, a new series of small molecular systems of platinum­containing organometallic conjugated molecules containing different donating groups (such as thiophene, BDT, carbazole, and bithiazole), benzothiadiazole and/or dimesitylborane as the acceptors were successfully designed and obtained. Among all the BHJ devices based on these platinum complexes, PT5­based device, which we introduced strong donor group carbazole in the molecule, showed the highest PCE of 1.46% with high Voc of 0.70 V, Jsc of 6.17 mA cm­2 and FF of 0.33 at the optimized active layer thickness of 60 nm, which indicates that the photovoltaic performance can be significantly improved by introducing a strong D group in the molecule. Besides, a new series of organic small molecules M1­M16 of D­A­spacer­A­D structure were successfully designed and obtained. Intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) effect could be observed due to the strong electron­withdrawing units (such as benzothiadiazole, DPP, trizaole and dimesitylborane) and strong electron­donating units (such as triphenylamine, thiophene, BDT, carbazole, and bithiazole), and this effect between the acceptor and donor units causes low bandgap. By introducing strong oligothiophene donor group in the molecule M4, which showed the highest PCE of 3.68% among all the devices with high Voc of 0.95 V, Jsc of 7.76 mA cm­2 and FF of 0.44 at the optimized active layer thickness of 75 nm, which also indicates that the photovoltaic performance can be significantly improved by introducing a strong D group in the molecule. In Chapter 5, we designed and synthesized a new series of the “bottom­up” metal complex nanosheets: p­conjugated bis(dipyrrinato) metal complex nanosheets, including monolayer and multilayer nanosheets. AFM, IR, XPS and SEM analyses have been applied to study the morphologies, chemical state and size or nanostructure of the as­prepared nanosheets, and the results indicated that the “bottom­up” method is useful for the construction of photoresponsive and semiconductive nanosheets. This work is going to enlarge the futurity of the “bottom­up” nanosheet as next­generation nanomaterials. Finally, Chapters 6 and 7 present the concluding remarks and the experimental details of the work described in Chapters 2­5.

In the last decade, organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have been attracting much attention for their low cost, and feasibility of mass production in large-area modules. Reported power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of organic solar cells have reached more than 10%. These promising PCEs can be realized by uncovering important principles: (1) rational molecular design, (2) matching of the material energy level, (3) favorable morphology of donor-acceptor (D/A) network, (4) higher carrier mobilities, and (5) suppression of charge recombination within the bulk heterojunction (BHJ). Though these key properties are frequently stated, the relationships between these principles remain unclear, which motivates us to fill these gaps. In the beginning, we show that changing the sequence of donor and acceptor units of the benzodithiophene-core (BDT) SM donors critically impacts molecular packing and charge transport in BHJ solar cells. Moreover, we find out that by adding small amount of the external solvent additive, the domain size of the SMFQ1 become relatively smaller, resulting in the FF enhancement of ~70% and thus pushing PCE to >6.5%. To further improve the device performance, we utilize another technique of device optimization: Solvent Vapor Annealing (SVA). Compared with solvent additive, the SVA creates a solvent-saturated environment for SMs to re-arrange and crystalize, leading to PCE of >8%, with nearly-free bimolecular recombination. When the systems are shifted from fullerene acceptors to nonfullerene acceptors, using solvent additives in indacenodithiophene-core (IDT) systems significantly reduces the domain size from >500nm to <50nm and also allows the SM donors to orderly packed, rising the PCE from <1% to 4.5%. Furthermore in a similar IDT-based system, it shows unexpectedly high VOC and low energy loss, and high PCE > 6% can be reached by employing the dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) as the SVA solvent to re-organize the morphology from excessive mixing to ordered phase-separated D/A network. Lastly, taking advantage of the distinct and complementary absorption of fullerene and nonfullerene acceptors, we show that the SM ternary system successfully realizes the high PCE of 11%, good air stability, and scalable property.

The Mbesese Initiative for Sustainable Development (MISD) is a group aiming to help eliminate extreme poverty in Africa by creating educational opportunity. One project that the group is currently doing is to build Same Polytechnic College (SPC) in Tanzania. As part of the project, this thesis aims to study and analyze the electrical power system and distribution for the college. Based on the projected load profile of the college and high potential for solar generation in Tanzania, several different power systems utilizing local utility AC electricity and/or photovoltaic (PV) DC electricity are explored and simulated for their feasibility and performance. Analysis of each design is presented and compared to determine the most viable system based on reliability, costs, and space. Results of the study indicate that over designing the DC system may generate wasteful energy while under designing the DC system may cause the overall system to rely heavily on the AC power grid. Ultimately, this thesis demonstrates that integrating a 58.9% DC system mixed with AC system offers the highest payback while efficiently utilizing the PV system, the battery system, and provided land.

The proposed hybrid system generates AC power by combining solar and wind energy converted by a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG). The DFIG, driven by a wind turbine, needs rotor excitation so the stator can supply a load or the grid. In a variable-speed wind energy system, the stator voltage and its frequency vary with wind speed, and in order to keep them constant, variable-voltage and variable-frequency rotor excitation is to be provided. A power conversion unit supplies the rotor, drawing power either from AC mains or from a PV panel depending on their availability. It consists of a multilevel inverter which gives lower harmonic distortion in the stator voltage. Maximum power point tracking techniques have been implemented for both wind and solar power. The complete hybrid renewable energy system is implemented in a PSIM-Simulink interface and the wind energy conversion portion is realized in hardware using dSPACE controller board.

This thesis analyzes the design and performance of a photovoltaic (PV) emulator. With increasing interest in renewable energies, large amounts of money and effort are being put into research and development for photovoltaic systems. The larger interest in PV systems has increased demand for appropriate equipment with which to test PV systems. A photovoltaic emulator is a power supply with similar current and voltage characteristics as a PV panel. This work uses an existing power supply which is manipulated via Labview to emulate a photovoltaic panel. The emulator calculates a current-voltage (I-V) curve based on the user specified parameters of panel model, irradiance and temperature. When a load change occurs, the power supply changes its current and voltage to track the calculated I-V curve, so as to mimic a solar panel. Over 250 different solar panels at varying irradiances and temperatures are able to be accurately emulated. A PV emulator provides a controlled environment that is not affected by external factors such as temperature and weather. This allows repeatable conditions on which to test PV equipment, such as inverters, and provides a controlled environment to test an overall PV system.

The advancement in solar panel and battery technology makes them useful for energy supply and storage. This thesis involves the modeling and charging control of a lithium ion battery system for solar panels. The proposed model is based on the parameters and characteristics of a realistic battery and solar panel system; and the hybrid control approach combines the advantages of the adaptive incremental conductance method and the perturb and observe method to track the maximum power point of the solar panel for charging the battery unit. Computer simulation results demonstrate that this proposed approach offers a faster convergence rate than the adaptive incremental conductance method, and less steady-state error than the perturb and observe method.

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This thesis deals with processing the current issue of trends in on-grid photovoltaic system with accumulation. It examines the posibility of accumulation of photovoltaic systems, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses in the practical deployment. It compares the different storage technologies based on indicators of cycles, durability and price ranges. The practical part deals with the technical design of hybrid power system and then comparing with the standard on-grid system in technical and economical point of view.

The aim of thesis is to design the heating and ventilation system for reconstructed part of the farmhouse. Thesis contains calculation of the object heat output, from which the design of the heating system is based. This includes to choice of heat sources, heaters and others components of the system. Thesis also contains hydraulic regulation of heating system. Design of equal-pressure ventilation system includes calculation of required amount of air, choice of unit, air conduit draft and options of terminal components and their settings. In the framework of this thesis is also designed simple photovoltaic system for warming hot water. There was created relevant drawing documentation for design of systems.

This dissertation is the study about the future of solar power stations in the Czech Republic, describing the history, composition, principle of solar power stations and types of defects. Is primarily focuses on the future and recycling of solar power stations and solar panels. The conclusion of this disertation describes and evaluates own survey which is oriented on operators of the solar power stations.