Hybrid solar panels integrated with Si solar cells, TE materials,
and FGM water tube systems are demonstrated. The
FGM water tube systems have good cooling function, which
can recover the PV cell efficiency by 30–50% and 25–40% for
the PV/HW and PV/TE/HW system, respectively, by controlling
the temperature and also enhance the TE output power by
three times. Incorporation of bulk TE modules in the solar panel
shows comparable performance as those of PV/FGM design.
High-efficiency QW/QD TE materials could potentially contribute
higher electric power and enhance the overall efficiency
for PV/TE/HW design.