Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments

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Optimization and Comparison of Photovoltaic Parameters of Zinc Oxide

(ZnO)/Graphene Oxide (GO) and Zinc Oxide (ZnO)/Carbon Quantum Dots
(CQDs) Hybrid solar cell using Firefly Algorithm for application in Solar
Trigeneration System in Commercial Buildings
Sakshi Tyagi a, Pawan Kumar Singh a, *, Arun Kumar Tiwari b, Pritam Pain c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad, Jharkhand 826004, India
b
Mechanical Engineering Department, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, 226021, India
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia, West Bengal 721657, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Solar cells formed by the combination of organic and inorganic nanoparticle semiconductors are gaining interest
Synthesis in today’s era because of their major features, such as being suitable for scalable solar power conversion and
Optimization being of low cost to produce desirable photovoltaic devices. This work is an attempt to develop two forms of
Firefly Algorithm
hybrid solar cells, one by the amalgamation of zinc oxide and carbon quantum dots and second, by incorporating
Hybrid solar cell
Solar trigeneration system
graphene oxide into zinc oxide. In this study, optimization, validation, and comparison of the photovoltaic
parameters of the two nanostructured solar cells were attempted using the Artificial Neural Network technique.
The ANN was instructed using the Firefly Algorithm. The input parameters are the spectral power density and
temperature. The output parameters are the short circuit current (ISC), open-circuit voltage (VOC), fill factor of
the cell (FF), and maximum voltage point prediction (VMPP). The results obtained for both the hybrid solar cells
were compared and it was noted that the addition of CQDs to ZnO resulted in a considerable increase in the
values of ISC, VOC and FF. The output obtained by the ANN trained model was compared with the results obtained
from the experimental tests. It is observed that there is considerable agreement between the results obtained
from the ANN and experimental values. The optimized values of VOC, ISC, FF, VMPP, Incident Photon to Current
Efficiency (IPCE), Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) for ZnO/GO are 0.623 V, 0.546 mA, 62%, 0.509 V, 36.95%,
9.12% respectively. Similarly values of VOC, ISC, FF, VMPP, IPCE, PCE for ZnO/CQDs are 0.636 V, 0.597 mA, 68%,
0.531 V, 40.72%, 10.35% respectively. Therefore, the precise values of all the stated parameters were obtained
for both the cells after optimization and hybrid cells made of CQDs proves to be a better candidate. Also, the
desirable value of the coefficient of correlation (R) is obtained, approximately close to 1, which means that the
fabricated samples are efficient for useful applications. Proper execution of this algorithm on any model of the
hybrid solar cell can lead to an evolution in the field of solar cells, resulting in the improvement of efficiency.
These optimized cells have been utilized to propose two models of solar trigeneration system used in a com­
mercial building North Service Centre (Olefin building) of Haldia Petrochemicals Limited, Haldia, West Bengal,
India. The trigeneration systems were based on photovoltaic modules, heat pump and photovoltaic-thermal
collectors. The objective is to provide enough electricity, domestic hot water, heating and cooling power to
meet the typical demand of a single office building. System performance has been predicted and evaluated in the
work. Considerations should be made regarding the physical constraints imposed by the environment where the
installation has to be performed. The location should be carefully selected to achieve maximum efficiency.

taken by mankind in the domain of clean and green technology. The

Introduction generation of clean electricity makes these cells highly demanding and
useful. This exclusive invention strides to the cutback in carbon emis­
The development of PV cells is the most significant step that has been sions released by a regularly noticeable increase in the utilization of

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: pawan@iitism.ac.in (P. Kumar Singh).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2021.101357
Received 25 January 2021; Received in revised form 22 April 2021; Accepted 3 May 2021
Available online 24 June 2021
2213-1388/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

makes it less reliable and creates numerous constraints even after the
Nomenclature advantage of substantial power outputs. The idea of hybrid solar cells
has furnished a biased solution to this problem, but the efficiency of the
V voltage same was not entirely desirable. Still, the solar group is functioning
I current endlessly concerning advancement in ANN to enhance the properties of
FF fill factor hybrid solar cells. In previous researches, it was reported that the
T temperature extraction of photovoltaic properties has been done using ANN using
SPD spectral power density different algorithms, but desirable results were not obtained. One of the
IPCE incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency reasons behind this setback is the weak optimization of the cells and
PCE power conversion efficiency other being an improper selection of organic and inorganic semi­
Ui total utility function conductor pairs, which rendered undesirable results [3,4]. Furthermore,
Wi scalar weighting factor there is a gap between the economic output and the theoretically
X solution vector calculated potential. At the same time, the implementation of modern
a weighting coefficient fabrication techniques has increased the efficiency of solar cells. It is the
HP heat pump need of the hour to investigate suitable procedures for improving the
DHW domestic hot water results and introducing the best value of possible efficiency ratio in a
HVAC heating, ventilation and air-conditioning hybrid solar cell. To address these problems effectively, a novel ANN
PV photovoltaic approach using the firefly algorithm is incorporated in the discipline of
solar cells [5]. In this work, two pairs of hybrid solar cells were fabri­
Subscript cated. Their PV characteristics were optimized using the ANN-firefly
oc open circuit algorithm and compared with the experimental results. The semi­
sc short circuit conductors used to develop hybrid solar cells are- inorganic semi­
mpp maximum power point conductors being Zinc Oxide (ZnO), the organic semiconductor being
Graphene Oxide (GO), and Carbon quantum dots (CQDs). ZnO is an
excellent n-type material for applications in photovoltaic (PV) devices. It
has good electrical, optical, environment-friendly, and structural prop­
fossil fuels by the economies [1]. Besides the capability to reduce carbon
erties, making it extremely useful. Graphene Oxide (GO), an organic
emissions, solar cell technology has attained vital recognition because of
semiconductor, enhances the rate of charge transfer in the device [8].
its economic interests. Presently, research has concluded the successful
Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have proven to be a promising nanocarbon
evolution and production of hybrid photovoltaic cells. However, it re­
platform in the area of optoelectronics on account of their excellent
mains controversial whether this invention remains initiatory and the
dispersibility in solvents with high stability and tunable electronic
rate of growth in this field is slow and it requires a boost [2].
properties [9–11]. The focus of this study lies in the development of an
The primary challenge faced by the entire research community in the
ANN model using training data, which is extracted from numerous
development of this technology is the lower efficiency of the cell, which

Fig. 1. Flowchart explanation of the research objective.

2
S. Tyagi et al.
Fig. 2. Experimental setup for preparation of ZnO.
iterations of a ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQD hybrid solar cell [6,7]. For
training the ANN model, the firefly algorithm was found to give the best
values with a negligible error, and the resultant output so obtained was
exhibited in this study. The results obtained from the neural network
model have been used to describe the parameters of the improved
model, which additionally helps to give the IV characteristic curves. The
optimized values are compared to the experimental values to find out
the degree of compatibility between the two methods of analysis and the
results obtained are desirable. Please refer to Fig. 1 which shows the
flow chart explanation of the objective.
ANN has been successfully applied to study different parameters of
solar cells; The focus is on the prediction of the maximum power point
which is considered to be a measure of efficiency, making it applicable
for modeling a solar trigeneration unit for a commercial building
[12,13]. The study in this discipline is thoroughly concentrated on
training numerous neural networks by different methods hence
3
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357
predicting the most acceptable model for a given cell. This work can
further be utilized in different topographical areas by considering tem­
perature and spectral power density of the location. Therefore, accord­
ing to the particular installment site, the required cells can be modeled
to meet the demands. In this current scenario of COVID 19, the solar
power sector in the world has been impacted adversely due to low
availability of cells and modules. To stabilize the sector it is highly
recommended to set up more manufacturing firms. Social distancing
being the utmost precautious measure should be obeyed by everyone. It
leads to high dependency on the simulation and optimization services.
This research will help in optimization of the cell performance, reducing
operation time and excessive manufacturing cost, also reducing the
chances of contracting infection by involvement of less manpower
during this crucial period. No research has been performed on these
pairs of cells using the above-mentioned optimization technique and the
comparison of the experimental and optimized values is the distinct
S. Tyagi et al.
Fig. 3. Experimental setup for preparation of GO.
feature in the approach, which altogether brings to the solar community
a new scope for future work. Being a diversified area, there are enor­
mous applications of solar energy. One of the applications is in solar
trigeneration systems. Solar trigeneration systems are capable of
generating electricity, heat and cooling power from solar energy
simultaneously with refrigeration unit driven by electricity. The pro­
posed application of this optimized solar cell is in solar trigeneration
unit installed at North Service Centre (Olefin building) of Haldia Pet­
rochemicals Limited, Haldia, West Bengal. The proposed system model
4
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357
combines self governing photovoltaic system, a solar DHW system and a
heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. Additionally,
the constructed designs are useful in evaluating two different system
performances and hence identifying a better system which is cost effi­
cient, environmental friendly and convenient. We have successfully
designed solar modules fabricated from ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs hybrid
solar cells and flat plate PV/T collectors. Provisions of electric power to
drive cooling equipment and low temperature heat for Domestic Hot
Water (DHW) are the essential features of the selected PV/T collector.
S. Tyagi et al.
Fig. 4. Experimental setup for preparation of CQDs.
The aim of this research is to assess the capability of a solar trigen­
eration system for the off-grid commercial complex based on PV mod­
ules, PV/T collectors and heat pump by following the modeling process.
The applied methodology in this article is utilised to design a system
which is capable of continuous operation for an off-grid housing and
commercial complexes. This research can be further extended to other
applications, which may contradict according to the need the suggested
technology.
Experimental
Synthesis of Zinc Oxide (ZnO)
Materials used for the synthesis of Zinc Oxide are Zinc nitrate, so­
dium hydroxide, and ethanol which were procured from Hemadri
chemicals, Mumbai, and were brought in use without further purifica­
tion. Synthesis of nanoparticles of Zinc oxide was done by the wet
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357
chemical method using sodium hydroxide and zinc nitrate precursors.
The amount of aqueous ethanol solution of zinc nitrate (Zn
(NO3)2⋅4H2O) taken was 0.5 M which was subjected to constant stirring
using a magnetic stirrer. It takes an hour for zinc nitrate to completely
dissolve. Likewise, 0.9 M aqueous ethanol solution of potassium hy­
droxide (KOH) was also prepared with stirring for one hour at a speed of
300–350 RPM. When zinc nitrate completely dissolves, then under high-
speed constant stirring 0.9 M KOH aqueous solution was added dropwise
for a short period of 45 min, ensuring that the solution touches the walls
of the flask. After the total inclusion, the flask walls were sealed to allow
the reaction to proceed for 2 hrs. Once the reaction has completed the
solution was left undisturbed overnight and then the supernatant solu­
tion was then carefully segregated [14]. The remaining solution was
centrifuged for 10 min. The precipitate obtained for ZnO NPs were
washed with deionized water and ethanol thrice to eliminate the
byproducts. The precipitate is then dried at about 60 ◦ C in air. During
the drying process, Zn(OH)2 is completely converted to ZnO, Fig. 2.
S. Tyagi et al.
Fig. 5. Schematics of ZnO/GO cell.
Fig. 6. Schematics of ZnO/CQDs cell.
Synthesis of Graphene Oxide (GO)
Natural graphite flake of size − 325 mesh with a purity of 99.8% was
procured from Sigma Aldrich. For the preparation of GO, the modified
Hummer method is used [15]. To study in detail, the amount of graphite
and NaNO3 used was 5 g and 2.5 g respectively, they were mixed with
and 12 ml H3PO4 and 108 ml H2SO4. The solution is stirred in an ice bath
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357
for 15 min. To keep the temperature of the mixture below 5 ◦ C, 15 g of
KMnO4 was slowly added. Then the suspension was reacted for 2 h in an
ice bath. Again, it is stirred for 60 min in a 40 ◦ C water bath. The tem­
perature of the mixture was maintained constant at 98 ◦ C by adding
water continuously for 70 min. To increase the volume of suspension up
to 500 ml, deionized water was further added. Then after a gap of 15
mins, 15 ml of H2O2 was added. The product so obtained was centri­
fuged and washed with 5% HCL and deionized water twice. Ultimately,
the product was dried at 60 ◦ C, refer Fig. 3.
Synthesis of Carbon Quantum Dots (CQDs)
Synthesis of Carbon Quantum Dots was done by the facile bottom-up
method using a hydrothermal reaction. Fumaronitrile was purchased
from (TCI Chemicals India Pvt Limited) was used in its purest form. 10%
fumaronitrile aqueous solution was used to conduct hydrothermal re­
action by using a Teflon-lined stainless-steel autoclave at 200 ◦ C for 25
min [16–18]. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane was purchased
from Sigma-Aldrich of 0.2 µm pore size. It is used to filter the above
solution. The filtrate so obtained was further purified by continuous
centrifugation and re-dispersion in water up to 10 times. The obtained
CQDs were then stored in a refrigerator for further use, refer Fig. 4.
Fabrication of ZnO/GO
The Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glass substrate was firstly cleaned with
distilled water followed by the application of 2-isopropanol, de-ionized
water, and acetone. Now the mixture of P3HT (Mark lisicon SP001):
PCBM (Ossila Ltd) was prepared by dissolving them with a molar ratio of
1:0.7 in 0.5 ml chlorobenzene which acts as a solvent. To achieve the
homogenous solution, the following blend was stirred at room temper­
ature for a period of 24 h. At a speed of 3000 rpm, this solution was
evenly spread on ZnO/GO coated film by spin coating for 30 s. Now to
remove the stresses in the morphology of films, the sample was annealed
at 90 C for 10 min on a hot plate. The PEDOT: PSS (purchased from
○
Sigma Aldrich) layer was spin-coated on the P3HT/PCBM layer at 4000
rpm for 30 s. Then these films were placed in a copper mask [7,11]. The
thermal electrode deposition method was used to deposit the aluminum
electrode on the films (work function 4.3 eV) for electrical connections,
refer Fig. 5. The thickness of fabricated cell was 2254 µm and the di­
mensions were 75 × 25 mm, shown in Fig. 7(a).
Fabrication of ZnO/CQDs
The ITO-coated glass substrates were cleaned in a sonication bath
with deionized water, acetone, and methanol for 3 min per cleaning
agent. For the preparation of the ZnO layer, 6 vol% ethanolamine was
mixed with 0.1 M nickel acetate (purchased from Sigma-Aldrich) in
ethanol. The ZnO precursor solution was added to the synthesized dots.
Then at a speed of 3,000 rpm, ZnO/CQD solution was spin-coated onto
treated ITO glass at for 40 s. Also, thermal-annealing was performed at
350 ℃ for about 30 min in air. Now the films were placed in a copper
mask, Fig. 6. Aluminum electrode connections were further established
for electrical operations [19,20]. Schematic of the cell is shown in Fig. 6.
The fabricated cell has thickness of 2259 µm and the dimensions were
75 × 25 mm, shown in Fig. 7 (b), which is under experimental analysis.
Determination of parameters and description of the dataset
The performance of solar cells is characterized by the mentioned
parameters; short-circuit current Isc, the open-circuit voltage VOC, and
the fill factor FF which ultimately helps in determining the efficiency of
S. Tyagi et al.
Fig. 7. (a, b): Fabricated ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs cell respectively.
the cell. Both the solar cells were placed under the sun for 16 days for a
time period of 7 h on daily basis. The readings were taken after every 84
min, so for each day 5 readings were obtained. When the solar energy is
available from the sun, the most significant value of current is measured
for a cell. The current was measured with an ammeter and is known as
the short circuit current of the solar cell. To measure the voltage of solar
cells, a multimeter is used. The voltage so obtained is known as open-
circuit voltage (VOC), this is the voltage of the unloaded circuit which
is also the maximum voltage achieved by a solar cell. Analytically to
determine these parameters, illuminated I-V characteristic is studied
[21,22]. It is vital to perform the measurements under standard test
conditions (STC) for a reliable measurement of the I-V characteristics.
Also, the total irradiance should be equal to 1000 W/m2 for the solar
cell. Further, the spectrum should resemble the AM 1.5 spectrum.
Temperature is an important parameter in the performance of a solar
cell which was measured using a thermometer. The average value of
temperature measured for 16 days for ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs was 32
◦
C and 34 ◦ C respectively. The current which flows through the external
circuit when the electrodes of the solar cell are short-circuited is known
as the short-circuit current ISC. The photon flux incident on the solar cell
is defined as the factor on which ISC is dependent. Flux is regulated by
the spectral density of the incident light. The spectrum should be
consistent with the AM 1.5 spectrum for standard solar cell measure­
ments [23]. Hence it was observed that the value of spectral power
density lies between 1005.6–1009.4 W/m2 depending on the average
measured light intensity 2508 lx for 16 days for ZnO/GO cell. On the
contrary the value of spectral power density for ZnO/CQDs cell lies
between 1004.2–1006.5 W/m2 for an average value of 2612 lx (light
intensity) for 16 days.
Description of the dataset
After obtaining experimental values of the vital parameters and
verifying it with the earlier reported work, the photovoltaic cell so
prepared was recapitulated by simulations for different values of tem­
perature and spectral densities and, hence ISC, VOC, and FF of the cell
along with the I-V characteristics were recorded. In total, 7458 iterations
were run and 82,786 values were computed that were used to train the
model for developing the dataset [24,25]. Tables 1a and 1b consists of
parameter settings and responses for the experimental run of ZnO/GO
and ZnO/CQDs solar cell respectively which was recorded during the
experimentation for 16 days. Further, this dataset was divided into
certain proportions of Training, Testing, and Validation for the four
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357
output parameters, to extract the maximum value of output from the
modeled ANN. To set up the data, all the values of input parameters were
varied and the current and voltage values were calculated accordingly
[26,27].
Formulation of neural network for photovoltaic parameter
optimization
The set of accessible data is distributed into three subsets: training,
validation, and testing sets. The initial set of data is the training set
followed by validation and testing sets. To provide input to the neural
network for adaptation and learning, a training set has been used
[28,29]. The inputs to the neural network are the spectral power den­
sities of hybrid solar cells and the geographical temperature where it is
installed. The maximum power outputs associated with each solar cell
are termed as targets. During the training phase, the performance of the
network is evaluated by the MSE (mean squared error), and the best
experimental results are represented in Figs. 10(a–d) and 11(a–d) for
ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs respectively. MATLAB® (R2015a) was used to
perform ANN modeling. Also, for the fitting of the curve and creation of
a successful model of the network, the Neural Network Toolbox of
MATLAB has been brought in use [30]. 7458 iterations were run and
82,786 values were computed that were used to train the model for
developing the dataset. The percentage of data distribution under the
three subsets for both the solar cells is shown in Table 2. Different
percentage of data was used during training, testing, and validation in
order to generalize the experiment. For this type of data set we can
conclude that any possible combination will give good result for this
experiment [31,32].
Fig. 8, shows the implemented Simulink diagram of the basic neural
network. To train a multilayer feed-forward network, two inputs pa­
rameters (Spectral Power Density, Temperature), one hidden layer with
10 neurons and six output parameters i.e. Open circuit voltage (VOC),
Variation in short circuit current (ISC), fill factor (FF), Maximum power
prediction point (MPP), Incident Photon-to-electron Conversion Effi­
ciency (IPCE), Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) were recorded. In this
investigation, the ideal condition of a solar cell has been considered i.e.
shunt and series resistances have been taken as zero [33,34].
Application of firefly algorithm:
The scholastic meta-heuristic firefly algorithm is presented to iden­
tify the output parameters of the solar cell. In the firefly algorithm, the
S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Table 1a
Parametric settings and responses for an experimental run of ZnO/GO solar cell.
Data. Control Parameters Responses

Spectral Power Density (W Temperature Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) Variation of Short Circuit Current (ISC) Fill Factor Maximum voltage point
m-2) (K) (V) (mA) (%) (VMPP)

1 1006.6 305.6 0.569 0.521 63 0.543

2 1005.7 305.1 0.562 0.524 62 0.546
3 1005.5 305.7 0.574 0.522 65 0.548
4 1008.2 306.4 0.566 0.539 64 0.566
5 1006.4 304.3 0.581 0.548 67 0.567
6 1009.6 302.4 0.568 0.571 65 0.545
7 1007.1 305.6 0.599 0.552 64 0.566
8 1005.6 306.4 0.688 0.563 63 0.552
9 1004.5 304.7 0.646 0.511 66 0.549
10 1006.4 306.4 0.613 0.546 69 0.557
11 1008.6 302.5 0.596 0.566 65 0.546
12 1007.8 304.8 0.674 0.542 64 0.562
13 1005.8 306.9 0.658 0.523 63 0.544
14 1006.4 303.4 0.586 0.536 68 0.538
15 1005.1 305.9 0.572 0.547 64 0.552
16 1006.2 303.2 0.599 0.564 67 0.546
17 1009.6 306.6 0.563 0.574 66 0.539
18 1007.4 306.4 0.572 0.558 69 0.558
19 1008.6 302.8 0.655 0.564 62 0.567
20 1007.5 301.7 0.687 0.584 68 0.541
21 1006.2 301.2 0.566 0.511 64 0.548
22 1009.7 308.9 0.551 0.547 63 0.569
23 1008.1 306.8 0.546 0.582 67 0.538
24 1005.5 307.2 0.578 0.542 64 0.582
25 1008.3 309.3 0.589 0.518 66 0.569
26 1009.2 304.6 0.572 0.592 64 0.585
27 1006.7 301.2 0.574 0.543 64 0.566
28 1007.4 307.5 0.688 0.567 63 0.522
29 1005.4 307.4 0.655 0.525 67 0.558
30 1006.8 309.8 0.641 0.571 68 0.574
31 1005.9 304.7 0.588 0.569 68 0.567
32 1006.2 306.7 0.688 0.547 67 0.567
33 1006.3 307.9 0.554 0.532 65 0.574
34 1008.4 308.2 0.564 0.576 62 0.548
35 1009.8 307.7 0.564 0.547 67 0.548
36 1006.8 308.4 0.539 0.547 65 0.554
37 1008.6 305.5 0.572 0.545 69 0.569
38 1009.9 307.8 0.572 0.558 64 0.585
39 1007.6 304.6 0.642 0.566 64 0.567
40 1005.6 304.7 0.677 0.587 67 0.545
41 1006.7 307.7 0.564 0.549 66 0.543
42 1008.4 302.8 0.545 0.528 65 0.565
43 1007.6 304.8 0.574 0.571 69 0.552
44 1007.4 301.7 0.578 0.544 65 0.562
45 1008.2 305.4 0.555 0.539 67 0.565
46 1009.6 305.6 0.542 0.571 65 0.562
47 1007.8 307.8 0.587 0.541 64 0.547
48 1006.2 302.8 0.684 0.561 63 0.548
49 1005.4 301.2 0.621 0.582 67 0.558
50 1006.1 301.4 0.647 0.546 69 0.525
51 1006.7 302.5 0.586 0.516 62 0.552
52 1007.7 305.6 0.644 0.585 67 0.536
53 1007.8 302.7 0.672 0.573 62 0.544
54 1005.6 305.6 0.565 0.562 68 0.574
55 1006.1 307.2 0.578 0.548 64 0.552
56 1005.4 302.8 0.527 0.544 67 0.562
57 1006.7 307.2 0.568 0.542 67 0.548
58 1008.4 306.4 0.545 0.564 69 0.558
59 1009.4 304.7 0.671 0.568 65 0.567
60 1007.8 305.8 0.677 0.572 64 0.547
61 1008.8 304.7 0.598 0.524 63 0.541
62 1009.7 301.3 0.548 0.548 62 0.546
63 1007.8 304.6 0.546 0.534 67 0.552
64 1008.8 305.7 0.597 0.582 66 0.569
65 1007.5 302.8 0.577 0.548 64 0.584
66 1006.7 308.5 0.585 0.574 65 0.542
67 1005.9 304.9 0.589 0.554 64 0.566
68 1005.8 302.9 0.647 0.561 63 0.542
69 1005.9 309.2 0.655 0.511 65 0.547
70 1006.8 304.9 0.623 0.585 69 0.541
71 1009.2 304.8 0.587 0.541 65 0.547
72 1005.2 308.4 0.622 0.584 65 0.565
(continued on next page)

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Table 1a (continued )
Data. Control Parameters Responses

Spectral Power Density (W Temperature Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) Variation of Short Circuit Current (ISC) Fill Factor Maximum voltage point
m-2) (K) (V) (mA) (%) (VMPP)

73 1006.4 301.4 0.625 0.533 68 0.549

74 1008.2 303.5 0.566 0.542 68 0.538
75 1007.8 308.4 0.578 0.542 64 0.542
76 1006.2 309.7 0.582 0.569 67 0.546
77 1008.8 302.7 0.549 0.544 65 0.548
78 1006.7 302.9 0.646 0.561 63 0.542
79 1009.5 304.9 0.574 0.522 65 0.556
80 1008.9 308.7 0.662 0.558 68 0.579

objective function of a given optimization problem is correlated with the
flashing light [35]. Also, it is stated the swarm of fireflies is assisted by
the light intensity in moving towards brighter and captivating sites to
obtain optimal solutions for the photovoltaic parameters- Open circuit
voltage (VOC), variation in short circuit current (ISC), fill factor (FF),
Maximum power prediction point (MPP), Incident Photon-to-electron
Conversion Efficiency (IPCE), Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE). The
spectral density and temperature are the inputs and the current–voltage
curve is measured with 80 points. The experimental points are obtained
from standard tests on the fabricated cell at 35 ◦ C. This algorithm has
been used for training purposes as it is fast and provides results with the
least errors. Its significant advantage is the use of primary real random
numbers. The firefly algorithm functions on three particular rules. These
are based on the key flashing attributes of real fireflies. These are as
follows [36].
1) Being unisex, all the fireflies’ moves towards more flashing ones
regardless of their sex.
2) Because air absorbs light, the brightness is proportional to the degree
of attractiveness of a firefly. As the brightness decreases, the distance
from the other firefly increases. The movement of fireflies will
become aimless if it is unable to find another bright and more
attractive fly.
3) The brightness or light intensity of a firefly is determined by the
value of the objective function of a given problem. For maximization
problems, the light intensity is proportional to the value of the
objective function.
ANN is trained in such a way that it reduces the error between the
input parameters and the target to be achieved. Further, the weights and
biases are adjusted to minimize the errors and to get the best possible
value for the output parameters. A reliable network with the least error
is obtained by dynamic updating of weights and biases. Here the utility
function method or weighting function method is used to apply the
firefly algorithm. It is a systematic method to deal with disagreement
among the distinct goals. In this method, by using a utility function Ui fi
for each objective function, the problem is transformed into a single-
objective function. The overall utility function of the problem is
defined as shown in Eq. (1) [35].
∑
k
U= Ui (fi ) (1)
i=1
Thus, the solution vector X is determined by maximizing the total
utility function U subject to the constraints, gi (x) ≥ 0, j = 1, 2, 3⋯., m.
Then, rewrite the above equation as
∑
k ∑
k performance is 0.00094782 at epoch 4. It is a low prediction error
U= Ui = wi fi (X) (2)
i=1 i=1
where wi is a scalar weighting factor associated with the ith objective
function and w1 + w2+ …. + wk = 1. In the case of gi (x) ≥ 0, then w1 +
w2+ …. + wk = -1
Now the problem can be rewritten as
fx = a*f1 (x) + (1 − a)*f2 (x) (3)
where f1 (x) and f2 (x) represent these two conflicting objectives, and a is
the weighting coefficient.
In particular, the firefly algorithm makes ANN more reliable by
minimizing the error and enhances the performance of ANN. Ultimately
the sum of the squared errors is penalized by this algorithm and a suc­
cessful dynamic revision of weight assignment according to the magni­
tude of error occurred is performed [36]. Now after applying FFA for
ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs, the range of variation of the six output pa­
rameters is obtained, which is shown in Tables 3 and 4 respectively.
Calculations of the same are reported in the appendix.
Results and discussions on use of firefly algorithm
Multilayer Feed Forward Neural Network consisting of one hidden
layer (10 neurons) was instructed with the firefly algorithm on MATLAB
(R2015a) software (system memory-16 GB). After training, the network,
outcomes for each photovoltaic parameter were reported as per the in­
formation presented in Fig. 9(a–d) for ZnO/GO cell and Fig. 10(a–d) for
ZnO/CQDs cell. Fig. 9(a–d) represents the value of the coefficient of
correlation (R) during training, validation, testing, and an overall result
for output 1, i.e. open-circuit voltage (VOC), output 2, i.e. Short circuit
current (ISC), output 3, i.e. Fill factor (FF) and output 4, i.e. Voltage at
maximum point (VMPP) respectively. The figures hereby indicate that the
line passes linearly through almost 90% of the data and portrays a strong
relationship among the points and hence desirable value of R is obtained
for all the parameters of ZnO/GO cell.
Similarly, Fig. 10(a–d) represents the value of the coefficient of
correlation (R) during training, validation, testing, and an overall result
for output 1, i.e. open-circuit voltage (VOC), output 2, i.e. short circuit
current (ISC), output 3, i.e. Fill factor (FF) and output 4, i.e. Voltage at
maximum point (VMPP) respectively. Hence, the value of the regression
model is close to 1 which suggests that it is structured well to give good
results, also a relatable relationship has been developed between the
input parameters and the target values [32]. The figures infer that values
of R for all the estimated parameters get refined upon blending ZnO with
CQDs. So it is valid to state that the performance of the ZnO/CQDs cell is
better than ZnO/GO. Further performance graphs for a trained neural
network for all four parameters of ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs is shown in
Fig. 11(a–d) and 12(a–d) respectively. The value of best validation
estimated with MSE as depicted in Fig. 11(a). The training was extended
for 10 iterations till it got terminated. The figure also states that there is

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Table 1b
Parametric settings and responses for an experimental run of ZnO/CQDs solar cell.
Data Control Parameters Responses

Spectral Power Density (W Temperature Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) Variation of Short Circuit Current (ISC) Fill Factor Maximum voltage point
m-2) (K) (V) (mA) (%) (VMPP)

1 1004.5 308.4 0.626 0.584 68 0.554

2 1004.7 304.5 0.614 0.582 62 0.565
3 1005.9 303.6 0.627 0.581 64 0.567
4 1007.4 308.8 0.611 0.581 66 0.579
5 1008.5 305.2 0.616 0.581 65 0.559
6 1006.7 301.5 0.623 0.582 68 0.588
7 1005.4 306.8 0.617 0.587 67 0.586
8 1006.6 307.3 0.613 0.588 63 0.597
9 1005.4 308.5 0.621 0.584 64 0.583
10 1004.8 307.4 0.616 0.599 68 0.612
11 1006.8 304.8 0.616 0.587 69 0.617
12 1005.9 305.8 0.611 0.596 73 0.589
13 1006.8 307.4 0.629 0.617 72 0.577
14 1006.7 303.4 0.622 0.622 71 0.559
15 1005.1 305.9 0.624 0.621 68 0.553
16 1004.2 303.2 0.627 0.599 68 0.575
17 1007.5 306.6 0.622 0.586 68 0.562
18 1005.4 306.4 0.617 0.584 69 0.554
19 1009.4 302.8 0.615 0.585 71 0.554
20 1008.2 301.7 0.623 0.625 70 0.619
21 1004.8 301.2 0.611 0.587 71 0.559
22 1004.5 308.9 0.624 0.582 68 0.565
23 1005.6 306.8 0.642 0.589 69 0.586
24 1009.4 307.2 0.648 0.584 66 0.579
25 1009.6 309.3 0.624 0.584 68 0.554
26 1007.5 304.6 0.627 0.587 68 0.567
27 1006.7 301.2 0.610 0.583 67 0.554
28 1007.8 307.5 0.615 0.587 67 0.597
29 1006.4 307.4 0.613 0.587 67 0.617
30 1005.4 309.8 0.616 0.599 68 0.597
31 1007.7 304.7 0.611 0.596 69 0.577
32 1005.2 306.7 0.611 0.622 72 0.583
33 1004.3 307.9 0.622 0.622 73 0.589
34 1009.4 308.2 0.622 0.622 73 0.563
35 1007.8 307.7 0.622 0.621 69 0.562
36 1005.8 308.4 0.627 0.599 69 0.575
37 1008.9 305.5 0.622 0.586 69 0.569
38 1005.6 307.8 0.625 0.589 69 0.588
39 1004.8 304.6 0.627 0.581 71 0.585
40 1007.7 304.7 0.644 0.612 72 0.617
41 1005.9 307.7 0.645 0.599 66 0.588
42 1006.5 302.8 0.641 0.596 64 0.564
43 1008.5 304.8 0.621 0.587 62 0.566
44 1008.6 301.7 0.622 0.584 66 0.596
45 1007.8 305.4 0.614 0.585 64 0.587
46 1005.9 305.6 0.615 0.582 67 0.584
47 1007.9 307.8 0.617 0.589 67 0.583
48 1008.6 302.8 0.618 0.587 66 0.577
49 1005.6 301.2 0.644 0.584 67 0.583
50 1005.1 301.4 0.623 0.614 68 0.623
51 1004.7 302.5 0.627 0.584 69 0.628
52 1009.5 305.6 0.619 0.589 72 0.598
53 1004.6 302.7 0.629 0.617 73 0.586
54 1008.4 305.6 0.622 0.621 73 0.595
55 1007.3 307.2 0.624 0.621 68 0.569
56 1005.4 302.8 0.627 0.621 69 0.573
57 1007.2 307.2 0.616 0.584 69 0.562
58 1007.1 306.4 0.616 0.584 67 0.564
59 1008.2 304.7 0.617 0.584 70 0.559
60 1006.6 305.8 0.623 0.587 72 0.612
61 1004.8 304.7 0.626 0.589 67 0.619
62 1006.6 301.3 0.614 0.614 65 0.562
63 1005.4 304.6 0.648 0.566 66 0.563
64 1006.1 305.7 0.644 0.597 67 0.577
65 1008.2 302.8 0.642 0.596 68 0.574
66 1004.5 308.5 0.623 0.582 67 0.581
67 1009.3 304.9 0.617 0.587 69 0.584
68 1006.4 302.9 0.621 0.588 62 0.591
69 1004.7 309.2 0.618 0.588 66 0.583
70 1006.3 304.9 0.617 0.587 64 0.617
71 1008.7 304.8 0.619 0.587 71 0.612
72 1004.2 308.4 0.611 0.587 72 0.577
(continued on next page)

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Table 1b (continued )
Data Control Parameters Responses

Spectral Power Density (W Temperature Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) Variation of Short Circuit Current (ISC) Fill Factor Maximum voltage point
m-2) (K) (V) (mA) (%) (VMPP)

73 1007.3 301.4 0.629 0.621 73 0.589

74 1004.7 303.5 0.633 0.622 70 0.557
75 1009.2 308.4 0.636 0.621 67 0.557
76 1007.5 309.7 0.627 0.599 66 0.554
77 1006.5 302.7 0.648 0.586 67 0.569
78 1004.3 302.9 0.641 0.587 68 0.567
79 1005.3 304.9 0.641 0.589 69 0.559
80 1005.7 308.7 0.621 0.615 71 0.617

*(Location: Haldia, West Bengal; cell placed outdoor at a horizontal plane).

Table 2 Table 3
Distribution of dataset for the output parameters of both the solar cells. Range of variation of VOC, ISC, FF, VMPP, IPCE, PCE of ZnO/GO cell on application
of Firefly Algorithm (FA).
S. Output Parameters Training Testing Validation
No. Range VOC ISC FF VMPP IPCE PCE

1 Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) (V) 70% 15% 15% Max 0.648 0.592 69 0.585 36.95 9.14
2 Variation of Short Circuit Current 50% 20% 30% Min 0.527 0.511 62 0.522 34.93 9.05
(mA)
3 Fill Factor (%) 70% 15% 15%
4 Maximum voltage point (VMPP) 65% 10% 25%
5 Incident Photon-to-electron 70% 15% 15% Table 4
Conversion Efficiency (IPCE) Range of variation of VOC, ISC, FF, VMPP, IPCE, PCE of ZnO/CQDs cell on appli­
6 Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) 50% 30% 20%
cation of Firefly Algorithm (FA).
Range VOC ISC FF VMPP IPCE PCE
no major problem with the training. There is a slight difference in the Max 0.688 0.625 73 0.628 40.74 10.38
test and validation curve. Min 0.61 0.566 62 0.553 38.52 9.26
The value for the best validation performance of Isc is 0.00028968 at
epoch 2. A low prediction error has been traced with MSE shown in
Fig. 11(b). The training was extended for 8 iterations till it ends up. The for 12 iterations till it terminates. The figure shows that no major
figure indicates that all the curves follow a similar trend. problems with the training were reported and a similar trend is followed
For fill factor (FF), The value of best validation performance is by the validation and test curves.
8.0343e-06 at epoch 3, shown in Fig. 11(c). It highlights the best vali­ For FF, The best value of validation performance for FF is 3.8869e-05
dation performance concerning the iteration. The training was extended at epoch 11, shown in Fig. 12(c). The training was extended for 17 it­
for 9 iterations till it got terminated. The figure indicates that a similar erations till it terminates. The figure indicates that no serious issue was
trend is followed by validation and test curves and no major issues were reported with the training and a similar trend is followed by test and
reported during training. validation curves.
For VMPP, The value of best validation performance is 0.0083808 at For VMPP, The best value of validation performance for VMPP is
epoch 1, shown in Fig. 11(d). The training was extended for 7 iterations 0.00010272 at epoch 5, shown in Fig. 12(d). The training was extended
till it got terminated. No major issues were reported during training. The for 11 iterations till it ends up. The figure indicates no issues with the
figure shows that a slight difference in trend is followed by the valida­ training. Test curves and validation curves follow a slight difference in
tion and test curves. trend.
For ZnO/CQDs, the best value of validation performance for Voc is Fig. 13 shows the IV characteristics curve of the obtained results
0.00056586 at epoch 9, measured with MSE shown in Fig. 12(a). from the firefly algorithm for ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs respectively.
For the iteration, it represents the best validation performance. Here For the trained network, the fit curve obtained by the ‘Plot fit’
the training was extended for 15 iterations till it comes to an end. The function was used to record points of optimization generated by the ANN
figure indicates a similar trend is followed by the validation and test [35]. Table 5, shows the comparison of the optimized points extracted
curves. from the two ANN models for ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs cells.
For ISC, The best value of validation performance for Isc is It is observed that the points determined by both models have very
0.00027883 at epoch 6, shown in Fig. 12(b). The training was extended little disagreement. After analyzing both the models, it is concluded that

Fig. 8. Simulink diagram of the basic neural network.

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Fig. 9. (a, b): Regression curves for VOC,ISC of ZnO/GO cell respectively (c, d): Regression curves for FF,VMPP of ZnO/GO cell respectively.

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Fig. 9. (continued).

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Fig. 10. (a, b) : Regression curves for VOC,ISC of ZnO/CQDs cell respectively (c, d): Regression curves for FF,VMPP of ZnO/CQDs cell respectively.

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Fig. 10. (continued).

15
S. Tyagi et al.
Fig. 11. (a, b): Performance graph for a trained neural network for prediction of Voc, Isc for ZnO/GO (c, d): Performance graph for a trained neural network for
prediction of FF and VMPP for ZnO/GO.
the results of the various parameters under observation for ZnO/CQDs
are considerably better than the other one. The difference in the results
is tabulated in Table 6.
A comparative study is also performed on the changes in values of R
for both the cells. It is deduced that significant improvement in the
overall values of the coefficient of correlation is observed on the addi­
tion of CQDs. The tabulation of the same is represented in Table 6. The
final comparison is made between the experimental treatment and the
optimized treatment, shown in Table 7. The values obtained by the
experiment are in proper coordination with the ones validated by ANN.
Tables 8 and 9 shows the comparison between the different techniques
LMSA (Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm combined with Simulated
Annealing), CARO (Chaotic Asexual Reproduction Optimization), NM-
MPSO (hybrid Nelder-Mead and Modified Particle Swarm Optimiza­
tion) used to obtain the six listed parameters for ZnO/GO and ZnO/
CQDs respectively [30,31,32,34]. So, we come to an inference that the
fabricated cell is efficient enough to cater to the needs. Also, the
advantage of using ANN is that it takes approximately 60 s to be trained
to fetch a result whereas experimentation takes a comparatively longer
period and more computational expense.
Application in solar trigeneration unit for commercial complex
Configuration of system
Solar trigeneration systems are able to simultaneously generate
electricity, heat and cooling power from solar energy. For modelling and
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357
simulation purpose we have used Polysun 12.0.6 software by Vela
Solaris AG, Winterthur, Switzerland. For designing, simulation and
optimisation of comprehensive energy systems for residential as well as
commercial buildings, Polysun software is a emerging viable option to
serve the need appropriately. The vital aspect when planning an energy
system is that it should works in consensus with the need and at the same
time proves to be cost-effective. This software has an intelligent
computational core which helps in realistically planning the energy
system at a primary stage, thus providing genuine plans to the end users.
Simulation of more than 150,000 components can be performed, based
on different characteristic curves of various combinations of solar
modules, further comparison and efficient optimisation can also be
performed at the same platform, hence promising energy efficient and
profitable system in a short span of time. The user is blessed with
maximum flexibility along with vibrant new ideas to develop their own
energy systems to meet the electrical demands [37,38,39]. A clear dia­
grammatic proposal of the two solar trigeneration systems developed in
Polysun 12.0.6 is presented in Figs. 14a and 14b) for ZnO/GO and ZnO/
CQDs modules respectively.
The main elements of the unit are PV modules, PV/T collectors,
thermal storage tanks (TST) for DHW (DHW-TST) and HVAC (HVAC-
TST) and an air-to-water vapor compression heat pump (HP). Applica­
tion is well defined to model a simplest and authentic arrangement to
cater the electrical needs of a commercial complex. Installation of
HVAC- TST is optional. Although is provides increased flexibility but it
ultimately increases initial costs, maintenance and installation space.
S. Tyagi et al.
Fig. 12. (a, b): Performance graph for a trained neural network for prediction of VOC and ISC for ZnO/CQDs cell respectively. (c, d): Performance graph for a trained
neural network for prediction of FF and VMPP for ZnO/CQDs cell respectively.
The installed heat pump is suitable for operating at higher efficiency and
also helps in storing hot and cold water in the HVAC-TST which can be
later used. Electric power to the loads is provided by the PV modules and
the PV/T collectors. To enable continous system operation load could be
provided by a storage element or instantaneously. The solar DHW sys­
tem is powered by the PV/T collectors along with a thermal storage tank,
i.e. DHW-TST. Provision and extraction of heat to and from the building
is headed by heat pump unit provides and extracts [40–42]. The energy
flow of the ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs system is illustrated respectively in
Figs. 15a and 15b). The performance prediction of the trigeneration
system is better understood by the system model. In the proposed tri­
generation system, performance of the electric system depends on the
quality of the components used and the place of installation. The com­
bined performance of solar collectors and thermal storage tanks is also
considered as it is influenced by transient dynamics [43–45]. For
developing the system model Polysun 12.0.6 simulation package has
been used. The model integrates all the system components which were
already available in the software library. The climate model uses input
data from the wizard of present at graphical user interface, which is
repository of free climate data for building performance simulation.
Polysun simulation software allows making a single line diagram for
residential and commercial Energy Efficient Building. System overview,
Overview solar thermal energy, electricity consumption, heat pump
running status, different component result analysis and annual energy
flow diagram has also been studied by the software. These values are
calculated on annual basis, the software generated results are attached
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357
in the appendix. Electric load profiles were concerned with domestic
appliances, lighting, thermal (HP and DHW load profiles). The trigen­
eration system model is formed by proper selection of device parameters
obtained by optimized results from firefly algorithm, hence two different
systems were modeled to study the application of the hybrid solar cells
[46].
Simulation
The proposed trigeneration systems were simulated for a typical
meteorological year (TMY) under Asian climatic data. The actual
simulated setup is presented in Figs. 14a and 14b) for ZnO/GO and ZnO/
CQDs modules respectively. The system is simulated with all the
essential components to provide results against which improvements in
fabrication, modelling, simulation and actual experimentation can be
evaluated. Tables 8 and 9 elaborates the details of the modelled system
of ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs in a tabular comparative form to make it
easy to understand.
Required parameters
Haldia is located at Longitude: 88.01◦ and Latitude: 21.94◦ . The
climate is considered to be has a tropical savanna climate. with winter
temperatures ranging from a low of around 7 ◦ C (45 ◦ F) degrees Celsius
to a high of 22 ◦ C (72 ◦ F). As per the meterological data, Average out­
door temperature was 26.4 ◦ C, Annual global irradiation was 727 kWh/
m2 and annual diffuse irradiation was 894 kWh/m2. Simulations were
conducted on North Service Centre (Olefin building) of Haldia
S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Fig. 13. IV characteristic curve extracted from the optimized values of ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs respectively using firefly algorithm.

Table 5
Estimated points of optimization obtained from the trained model of the two-hybrid solar cells.
Parameters ZnO/GO ZnO/CQDs

Open circuit voltage (VOC) 0.645 0.683

Short circuit current (ISC) 0.587 0.614
Fill factor (%) 69 73
Maximum voltage point (VMPP) 0.525 0.554
PCE (%) 9.12 10.35
IPCE (%) 36.95 40.72

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Table 6
The correlation coefficient (R) values of the two photovoltaic cells.
VOC ISC FF VMPP

ZnO/GO ZnO/CQD ZnO/GO ZnO/CQDs ZnO/GO ZnO/CQDs ZnO/GO ZnO/CQDs

Training 1 0.9987 0.99254 1 0.9999 0.99566 0.99877 1

Validation 0.99148 0.99872 0.97997 1 0.93795 0.99911 0.91995 0.99122
Testing 0.9907 0.99884 0.99017 1 0.96943 0.99402 0.90642 0.9997
Overall R 0.99237 0.99873 0.98902 1 0.96094 0.9958 0.91007 0.9974

was selected and set to produce cold and hot water respectively. Results
Table 7 for the heating and cooling elements incorporated in the system are
Experimental and optimized values of the parameters of two hybrid solar cells. listed in Table 11. Selection of fan-coils has been made for simulation of
Parameters ZnO/GO ZnO/CQDs terminal HVAC units [47–49]. The number of PV modules installed and
Exp. ANN Exp. ANN the position of slope angle at for purpose of simulation can be user
Results results Results results defined and also determined by the software [50]. According to the
Open circuit voltage (VOC) 0.623 0.645 0.636 0.683 simulation results, the annual production and demand for the two pro­
Short circuit current (ISC) 0.546 0.587 0.597 0.614 posed trigeneration systems is represented in Table 12. A comparative
Fill factor (%) 62 69 68 73 study is made between the two systems and it was concluded that the
Maximum voltage point 0.509 0.525 0.531 0.554 ZnO/CQDs simulated unit is better than ZnO/GO unit. Heat Pump for
(VMPP)
ZnO/GO unit at which it operates is 76.7% and ZnO/CQDs unit heat
pump has efficiency of 76.4%.
The solar DHW system of ZnO/GO unit performs well, reaching a
Table 8 solar thermal fraction of 82.7%, Solar fraction (hot water) of 82.9%,
Optimized values of the parameters of ZnO/GO hybrid cell obtained by different Solar fraction (building) of 82.9%. For ZnO/CQDs unit solar thermal
techniques. fraction was 84%, values for solar fraction (hot water) was 84.1% and
Approaches Parameter of ZnO/GO cell solar fraction (building) was 84.1%. DC and AC energy produced by the
PV/T collectors was 6,438 kWh and 5,873 kWh respectively.
VOC ISC FF VMPP IPCE PCE

FA 0.645 0.587 69 0.525 9.12 36.95

Conclusion
LMSA 0.623 0.556 67 0.558 9.06 34.52
CARO 0.636 0.578 68 0.567 9.34 37.89
NM-MPSO 0.641 0.566 69 0.587 9.75 36.74 This study was based on the synthesis, optimization, and validation
of the two-hybrid solar cells i.e. ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs. In this work,
significance for the optimization of a hybrid solar cell is discussed. For
the optimization, modeling was done on the data obtained for the two
Table 9
Optimized values of the parameters of ZnO/CQDs hybrid cell obtained by
cells using Artificial Neural Network. MATLAB (2015Ra) was used to
different techniques. develop a network with 10 hidden neurons, which was trained using the
firefly algorithm through 7458 iterations which were run and 82,786
Approaches Parameter of ZnO/CQDs cell
values were determined, that were further used to train the neural
VOC ISC FF VMPP IPCE PCE network model for the generation of the dataset. The generation of the
FA 0.683 0.614 73 0.554 9.85 39.27 most optimum model of the two solar cells was achieved by using the
LMSA 0.761 0.628 68 0.589 9.32 37.86 best value of the parameters predicted by the trained network. The re­
CARO 0.769 0.724 67 0.572 9.47 37.25 sults obtained by the model were compared with the experimental
NM-MPSO 0.767 0.695 69 0.585 9.28 38.58
values. It is deduced that there is a fine consensus between the two
modes of obtaining the results. The optimized values of VOC, ISC, FF,
Petrochemicals Limited, Haldia, West Bengal, an office complex, whose VMPP, IPCE, PCE for ZnO/GO are 0.623 V, 0.546 mA, 62%, 0.509 V,
construction elements are in accordance with Indian building codes, for 36.95%, 9.12% respectively. Similarly values of VOC, ISC, FF, VMPP, IPCE,
35 occupants with 2 floors and Heated/air-conditioned living area was PCE for ZnO/CQDs are 0.636 V, 0.597 mA, 68%, 0.531 V, 40.72%,
3,300 m2. 10.35% respectively. Also, value of the coefficient of correlation (R)
obtained is close to 1, which means ANN/FA has proved the validity of
Analysis the experiment. As the results obtained are good, so we can say that the
The ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs constituted PV modules used for this experiments were conducted in sound line. The working efficiency of the
simulation are each 25 in number, both having Collector area of 68 m2 CQDs cell is better than the GO cell. Further, the trial of the values so
single cover sheet and tube collectors whose total electricity production obtained was done. The I-V characteristic showed that the firefly algo­
was 35,451 kWh and 35,416 kWh respectively, maximum energy sav­ rithm functioned efficiently. It also suggests the capability of predicting
ings were 26,683.6 kWh and 26,277.1 kWh respectively. The solar DHW highly optimized and useful hybrid solar cells hence making it a prof­
system for ZnO/GO based unit was simulated with 32 m2 of PV/T col­ itable asset to society. One of the applications of these cells have been
lector area, Inflow temperature during operation 41.3 ◦ C, Outflow proposed in modeling and simulation of trigeneration system based on
temperature during operation 37.6 ◦ C respectively; other properties of PV/T collectors, PV modules and a Heat Pump. The designing of the
flat plate PV/T collector are specified in Table 10. Regarding the HVAC system was made easy by using Polysun simulation software version
system, a commercial air-to-water HP unit with adequate power rating 12.0.6 but the fabrication process is bit expensive. The selection was
made on traditional system results from where domestic load profile was

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Fig. 14a. Proposed solar trigeneration system for ZnO/GO based module.

Fig. 14b. Proposed solar trigeneration system for ZnO/CQDs based module.

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Fig. 15a. Energy flow Diagram for ZnO/GO system.

Fig. 15b. Energy flow Diagram for ZnO/CQDs system.

selected, i.e. grid-connected, load profiles. Also, it is observed that both
the system models validates an intensive understanding regarding the
drawbacks of solar technology i.e. if the demand soars high in low
irradiation months, then these simulated systems helps predict the en­
ergy usage as well as the performance during windy and cold weather,
hence suggesting the seasonal energy storage requirement and need for
alternative energy source during winter seasons. The nucleus of the
subsequent research will be on enhancing the present system model and
setting up comprehensive cost theories to avoid unproductive events and
verify designs of cost-effective systems.

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S. Tyagi et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357

Table 10 Pawan Kumar Singh: Data curation, Writing - review & editing, Su­
PV/T collector parametric values for the two systems. pervision. Arun Kumar Tiwari: Validation, Writing - review & editing,
ZnO/GO ZnO/CQDs Supervision. Pritam Pain: Visualization, Software, Writing - review &
system system editing.
Number of collectors 18 18
Number of arrays 1 1 Declaration of Competing Interest
Total gross area 36 m2 36 m2
Total aperture area 32.4 m2 32.4 m2 The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
Total absorber area 32.4 m2 32.4 m2
Tilt angle 450 450
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
Collector field yield 9,942 kWh 10,205 kWh the work reported in this paper.
Irradiation onto collector area 52,801 kWh 55,812 kWh
Collector efficiency 18.8% 18.3% Acknowledgement
Direct irradiation after IAM 23,099 kWh 26,816 kWh
Diffuse irradiation after IAM 26,688 kWh 25,854 kWh
Electricity consumption 35,000 kWh 35,000 kWh The authors would like to thank Mr. Shobhit Singh, Deputy Manager,
Electricity consumption of the thermal 523 kWh 485 kWh IOP and Bagging, Haldia Petrochemicals Limited, Haldia, Purba Medi­
components nipur, West Bengal, India for his immense help to allow us to perform
Self-consumption 5,873 kWh 4,462 kWh our study on solar trigeneration system at Olefin building of HPL, India.
Degree of self-sufficiency 16.8% 12.7%
We are grateful for his help and constant support during the research
propagation.

Table 11 Appendix
PV module parametric values under standard test conditions (STC) for the two
systems. Calculations for Table 3
ZnO/GO ZnO/CQDs
system system Analysis to maximize Voc, ISC, FF, VMPP, IPCE , PCE for ZnO/GO
Number of modules 25 25 cell.
Collector aperture area 32 m2 32 m2
Tilt angle 45◦ 45◦ 1) A regression equation to maximize Voc is developed as shown
Global irradiation after IAM 49,905 kWh 52,786 kWh
below.
Diffuse irradiation after IAM 26,802 kWh 25,968 kWh
Collector field yield 14,862 kWh 15,624 kWh Voc = -13.3 + 0.0192 SPD + 0.0384 Temp. − 0.000053 SPD*Temp.
Total nominal power DC 4.5 kWh 4.5 kWh SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m-2) = 757.2
Performance ratio 79.9% 80.1% Temp.: Temperature (K) = 356.7
Modules per string 10 9
Best value for Voc (V) = 0.645
Energy production DC 6,438 kWh 4,887 kWh
Energy production AC 5,873 kWh 4,462 kWh
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
Heated/air-conditioned living area 3,300 m2 3,300 m2 regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
Heating setpoint temperature 18.5 ◦ C 18.5 ◦ C value of Voc is obtained as 0.645 V while the parametric combination of
Heating energy demand excluding DHW 846 kWh 629 kWh the control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2) and
Solar gain through windows 58,443 kWh 60,014 kWh
temperature of 356.7 K
Total energy losses 1,342,329 1,343,501 kWh
kWh 2) A regression equation to maximize ISC is developed as shown
Power per heating/cooling element under 1,000 W 1,000 W below
standard conditions ISC = − 16.0 + 0.0221 SPD + 0.0463 Temp. − 0.000062 SPD*Temp.
Nominal inlet temperature 40 ◦ C 40 ◦ C
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m-2) = 744.6
Nominal return temperature 35 ◦ C 35 ◦ C
Temp.: Temperature (K) = 354.7
Best value for Isc (mA) = 0.587
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
Table 12 regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
Comparative table for annual simulation results for the two proposed trigener­
value of Isc is obtained as 0.587 mA while the parametric combination of
ation system.
the control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2) and
Demand Energy (kWh) Production Energy for Production Energy for temperature of 356.7 K
ZnO/GO (kWh) ZnO/CQDs (kWh)
3) A regression equation to maximize FF is developed as shown
Electric 27251 Electric 35,451 Electric 35,416 below
Demand Production Production FF = 3168–4.12 SPD − 8.84 Temp. + 0.01172 SPD*Temp.
(AC) (DC) (DC)
– Heating 1532 – Waste 6765 – Waste 6321
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m− 2) = 757.6
– Cooling 11941 – Ohmic 1441 – Ohmic 1317 Temp. : Temperature (K) = 354.8
Losses Losses Best value for FF (%) = 69
– DHW 1573 – PV 7966 – PV 7452 The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
Backup
regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
– Lighting 16102 – PV/T 6,438 – PV/T 5,873
– 1703 Electric 27251 Electric 27251 value of FF is obtained as 69% while the parametric combination of the
Appliances Production Production control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2) and
(AC) (AC) temperature of 356.7 K
4) A regression equation to maximize VMPP is developed as shown
below
CRediT authorship contribution statement
VMPP = -24.3 + 0.0326 SPD + 0.0702 Temp. − 0.000092 SPD*Temp.
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m− 2) = 752.1
Sakshi Tyagi: Conceptualization, Writing - original draft, Method­
Temp.: Temperature (K) = 351.4
ology, Software, Visualization, Investigation, Writing - review & editing.
Best value for VMPP (V) = 0.525

22
S. Tyagi et al.
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
value of VMPP is obtained as 0.525 V, while the parametric combination
of the control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2)
and temperature of 356.7 K
5) A regression equation to maximize IPCE is developed as shown
below
IPCE = 275–1.97 SPD − 5.21 Temp. + 0.00087 SPD*Temp.
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m− 2) = 751.9
Temp.: Temperature (K) = 352.4
Best value for IPCE (%) = 36.95
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
regression equation by applying FA in
Matlab environment. Maximum value of IPCE is obtained as 36.95%
while the parametric combination of the control parameters is Spectral
Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2) and temperature of 356.7 K
6) A regression equation to maximize PCE is developed as shown
below
PCE = 382 + 6.88 SPD − 6.74 Temp.- 0.00056 SPD*Temp.
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m− 2) = 752.2
Temp. : Temperature (K) = 352.1
Best value for PCE (%) = 9.12
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
value of PCE is obtained as 9.12% while the parametric combination of
the control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2) and
temperature of 356.7 K
Calculations for Table 4
Analysis to maximize VOC, ISC, FF, VMPP, IPCE, PCE for ZnO/CQDs cell
1) A regression equation to maximize VOC is developed as shown
below
Voc = -2.68 + 0.0042 SPD + 0.0093 Temp. − 0.000012 SPD*Temp.
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m-2) = 752.4
Temp.: Temperature (K) = 357.7
Best value for Voc (V) = 0.683
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
value of PCE is obtained as 0.683 V while the parametric combination of
the control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2) and
temperature of 356.7 K
2) A regression equation to maximize Isc is developed as shown below
ISC = 12.4–0.0158 SPD − 0.0329 Temp. + 0.000044 SPD*Temp.
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m-2) = 761.4
Temp.: Temperature (K) = 356.8
Best value for ISC (mA) = 0.614
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
value of ISC is obtained as 0.614 mA, while the parametric combination
of the control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2)
and temperature of 356.7 K
3) A regression equation to maximize FF is developed as shown
below
FF = -3618 + 4.88 SPD + 10.44 Temp. − 0.01381 SPD*Temp.
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m-2) = 748.8
Temp.: Temperature (K) = 354.8
Best value for FF (%) = 73
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
value of FF is obtained as 73% while the parametric combination of the
control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2) and
temperature of 356.7 K
4) A regression equation to maximize VMPP is developed as shown
below
VMPP = 2.0–0.0024 SPD − 0.0037 Temp. + 0.000006 SPD*Temp.
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m-2) = 767.5
Temp.: Temperature (K) = 342.8
23
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 47 (2021) 101357
Best value for VMPP (V) = 0.554
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
value of VMPP is obtained as 0.554 V while the parametric combination
of the control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2)
and temperature of 356.7 K
5) A regression equation to maximize IPCE is developed as shown
below
IPCE = 573–2.42 SPD + 6.27 Temp. + 0.00056 SPD*Temp.
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m-2) = 752.9
Temp. : Temperature (K) = 356.4
Best value for IPCE (%) = 40.72
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
value of IPCE is obtained as 40.72% while the parametric combination
of the control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2)
and temperature of 356.7 K
6) A regression equation to maximize PCE is developed as shown
below
PCE = 464 + 4.27 SPD − 4.55 Temp.- 0.00079 SPD*Temp.
SPD: Spectral Power Density (W m-2) = 754.3
Temp. : Temperature (K) = 351.9
Best value for PCE (%) = 10.35
The global optimum solution is obtained from the developed
regression equation by applying FA in Matlab environment. Maximum
value of PCE is obtained as 10.35% while the parametric combination of
the control parameters is Spectral Power Density of 757.2 (W m-2) and
temperature of 356.7 K.
List of figures
1) The flow chart explanation of the objective.
2) Experimental setup for ZnO synthesis.
3) Experimental setup for GO synthesis.
4) Experimental setup for CQDs synthesis.
5) Schematic of ZnO/GO cell.
6) Schematic of ZnO/CQDs cell.
7) Fabricated ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs cell respctively.
8) Simulink diagram of the basic neural network.
9) (a–d) Regression curve for Voc, ISC, FF, VMPP for ZnO/GO cell
respectively.
10) (a–d) Regression curve for Voc, ISC, FF, VMPP for ZnO/CQDs cell
respectively.
11) (a–d) Performance graph for a trained neural network for pre­
diction of Voc, ISC, FF, VMPP for ZnO/GO respectively.
12) (a–d) Performance graph for a trained neural network for pre­
diction of Voc, ISC, FF, VMPP for ZnO/CQDs respectively.
13) IV characteristic curve extracted from the optimized values of
ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs respectively using firefly algorithm.
14) (a, b) Proposed solar trigeneration system for ZnO/GO and ZnO/
CQDs based module respectively.
15) (a, b) Energy flow Diagram for ZnO/GO system.
List of tables
1 (a, b) Parametric settings and responses for experimental run of
ZnO/GO and ZnO/CQDs solar cell.
2) Distribution of dataset for the output parameters of both the solar
cells.
3) Range of variation of VOC,ISC,FF,VMPP of ZnO/GO cell on appli­
cation of Firefly Algorithm (FA).
4) Range of variation of VOC,ISC,FF,VMPP of ZnO/CQDs cell on
application of Firefly Algorithm (FA).
5) Comparison of points of optimization obtained from the trained
model of the two hybrid soalr cells.
6) The correlation coefficient (R) values of the two photovoltaic cell
whose parameters were calculated by ANN.
7) Comparison of experimental values and optimized values of the
S. Tyagi et al.
parameters of two hybrid solar cell.
8) Optimized values of the parameters of ZnO/GO hybrid cell ob­
tained by different techniques.
9) Optimized values of the parameters of ZnO/CQDs hybrid cell
obtained by different techniques.
10) PV/T collector parametric values for the two systems.
11) PV module parametric values under standard test conditions
(STC) for the two systems.
12) Comparative table for annual simulation results for the two
proposed trigeneration system.
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