Guest Editors
Assist. Prof. Hitesh Panchal
Email: engineerhitesh2000@gmail.com
Affiliation: Mechanical Engineering Department, Government Engineering College Patan, Gujarat, 384265, India
Homepage:
Research Interests: solar energy, solar photovoltaic, solar hybrid
Summary
The rapid growth of global energy demand and the increasing urgency to transition toward low-carbon systems have accelerated innovation in solar energy technologies. While photovoltaic (PV) cells remain one of the most widely adopted renewable energy solutions, their performance is significantly affected by thermal conditions. Excessive heat generation reduces electrical efficiency, accelerates material degradation, and limits long-term reliability. As a result, effective thermal management has emerged as a critical design consideration in next-generation solar technologies.
At the same time, hybrid solar systems that integrate photovoltaics with thermal, thermoelectric, and energy-storage components offer a transformative opportunity to maximize energy harvesting. These hybrid solar–thermal–electric systems enable simultaneous production of electricity and heat, improving overall energy-conversion efficiency and expanding the functional scope of solar technologies. Innovations in materials science, nano-engineering, cooling strategies, and system integration are driving the development of devices capable of operating efficiently across diverse climatic and industrial environments.
The convergence of solar cell engineering, thermal science, materials innovation, and hybrid power system design represents an important multidisciplinary frontier. Applications in building-integrated systems, industrial heat processes, sustainable mobility, desalination, and distributed energy networks highlight the broad relevance of these integrated approaches. Yet, many scientific and engineering challenges remain, including thermal–electrical coupling, durability under fluctuating temperatures, system-level optimization, and cost-effective deployment.
This Special Issue seeks to address these gaps by showcasing recent advances in advanced solar cell technologies with integrated thermal management and hybrid power generation. It aims to promote cross-disciplinary collaboration and accelerate the development of efficient, multifunctional, and sustainable solar energy systems for the future.
Suggested themes include, but are not limited to:
· High-efficiency photovoltaic materials with enhanced thermal stability
· Advanced cooling strategies for PV modules (passive, active, radiative, and hybrid methods)
· Photovoltaic–thermal (PV/T) hybrid systems for combined heat and power generation
· Integration of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) with solar cells
· Nanomaterials, coatings, and surface texturing for solar–thermal management
· Phase-change materials (PCMs) for PV cooling and thermal storage
· Perovskite and tandem solar cells with thermal-regulation mechanisms
· Thin-film, organic, and flexible PV devices optimized for thermal environments
· Thermal–electrical coupling modeling and simulation in PV systems
· Hybrid solar-driven desalination, heating, and industrial process applications
· Building-integrated photovoltaic–thermal (BIPV/T) systems
· AI-driven design, digital twins, and optimization of hybrid solar power systems
· Durability, reliability, and lifetime performance of PV under high-temperature conditions
· Solar cells integrated with energy storage systems (thermal storage, batteries, supercapacitors)
· Economic feasibility, sustainability assessment, and life-cycle analysis of solar hybrid systems
· Heat-pipe, microchannel, and fluid-based PV cooling technologies
· Hybrid optical systems (concentrated PV, spectral splitting, and solar–thermal collectors)
· IoT-enabled smart monitoring and control of hybrid solar installations
· Solar-powered systems for mobility, EV charging, and portable energy solutions
· Next-generation materials for thermal-radiative cooling of PV devices
We warmly invite researchers and practitioners to contribute to this Special Issue.
Keywords
solar cell technologies, thermal management, hybrid power generation, photovoltaic–thermal (PV/T) systems, thermoelectric integration, high-efficiency photovoltaics, nanomaterials and coatings, energy conversion efficiency, renewable energy systems, building-integrated solar technologies
Login
Register
Submit a Paper
Propose a Special lssue