Metal–organic framework-based atmospheric water harvesting for enhanced photovoltaic efficiency and sustainability

Abstract

The global demand for photovoltaic (PV) cooling is projected to increase over the coming years, driven by the growing adoption of solar energy and the need to improve the efficiency and performance of PV systems. Atmospheric water harvesting-based evaporative cooling (AWH-EC) has the potential to be a key technology for providing sustainable and low-cost cooling. Here, the super-adsorbent Cr-soc-MOF-1 is introduced and integrated in a sorption based atmospheric water harvester photovoltaic cooling system. Our results show that the AWH-based cooling component can provide 68.9–136.1 W m⁻² cooling power, and the temperature of the PV panel can be reduced by ∼10.6–12.6 °C under 0.8–1.1 kW m⁻² sunlight irradiation. Markedly, the integrated system demonstrates an increase in electricity generation of up to 7.5%. The feasibility of scaling up this cooling strategy is further predicted by simulation, indicating that it is a promising approach to fulfill the cooling demand in the PV industry with broad adaptability.