CH₃NH₃PbI_3-xCl_x has been studied experimentally and has shown promising results for photovoltaic application. To enhance its performance, this study investigated the effect of varying thickness of FTO, TiO₂, and CH₃NH₃PbI_3-xCl_x for a perovskite solar cell with the structure glass/FTO/TiO₂/CH₃NH₃PbI_3-xCl_x/Spiro-OMeTAD/Ag studied using SCAPS-1D simulator software. The output parameters obtained from the literature for the device were 26.11 mA/cm², 1.25 V, 69.89%, and 22.72% for J_sc, V_oc, FF, and η, respectively. The optimized solar cell had a thickness of 100 nm, 50 nm, and 300 nm for FTO, TiO₂, and CH₃NH₃PbI_3-xCl_x layers, respectively, and the device output were 25.79 mA/cm², 1.45 V, 78.87%, and 29.56% for J_sc, V_oc, FF, and η, respectively, showing a remarkable increase in FF by 8.98% and 6.84% for solar cell efficiency. These results show the potential of fabricating an improved CH₃NH₃PbI_3-xCl_x perovskite solar cell.

Al–Mg–Si alloys are used in aircraft, train, and car manufacturing industries due to their advantages, which include non-corrosivity, low density, relatively low cost, high thermal and electrical conductivity, formability, and weldability. This study investigates the bulk mechanical properties of Al–Mg–Si alloys and the influence of the Si/Mg ratio on these properties. The Al cell was used as the starting structure, and then nine structures were modeled with varying percentages of aluminium, magnesium, and silicon. Elastic constant calculations were conducted using the stress–strain method as implemented in the quantum espresso code. This study found that the optimum properties obtained were a density of 2.762 g/cm³, a bulk modulus of 83.3 GPa, a shear modulus of 34.4 GPa, a Vickers hardness of 2.79 GPa, a Poisson’s ratio of 0.413, a Pugh’s ratio of 5.42, and a yield strength of 8.38 GPa. The optimum Si/Mg ratio was found to be 4.5 for most of the mechanical properties. The study successfully established that the Si/Mg ratio is a critical factor when dealing with the mechanical properties of the Al–Mg–Si alloys. The alloys with the optimum Si/Mg ratio can be used for industrial applications such as plane skins and mining equipment where these properties are required.

Solar energy can be harnessed as photovoltaic energy or solar thermal. Photovoltaic modules provide safe, reliable, and maintenance-free, without noise and environmentally friendly source of power This paper evaluates the outdoor performance of a monocrystalline silicon module based on irradiance and temperature in Kakamega region. The outdoor performance characterisation of a 20 W mono-crystalline silicon module was investigated under different values of solar irradiance and module surface temperature in Kakamega, Kenya. Short circuit current of the module increased significantly with increasing irradiance while open circuit voltage was least affected. Both fill factor and efficiency showed a similar trend with irradiance, increasing slightly and then reducing. The response variables; fill factor, efficiency, open circuit voltage and maximum power were found to reduce with increase in surface temperature while short circuit current increased slightly. The average efficiency, fill factor, short circuit current and open circuit voltage for the module was found to be 10.11%, 0.65, 0.65A, and 19.78V respectively. Maximum Voltage, maximum current and maximum power were found to be 16.78V, 0.48A and 8.11W respectively. A good knowledge of the power output of a solar module and how it varies with solar irradiance and temperature would give accurate information which is vital in sizing and design of photovoltaic system.

Co x Ti1–x O2 films were deposited by spray pyrolysis technique on Si(1 0 0) substrates at 475 °C. A hydro-alcoholic solution containing titanium (iv) isopropoxide and Co(NO3)2 with various Co doping levels from x = 0–0.015 in solution was used as spray solution. Grazing incident angle of X-ray diffraction illustrates that the Co x Ti1–x O2 films are single phase and polycrystal with mixed orientations. Study of surface morphology of the films by atomic force microscope reveals that the annealing atmosphere does not significantly affect the grain size and the microstructure of the films. This study provides further insight into the importance of annealing atmosphere on magnetization of the films. Room temperature magneto-optical Kerr measurement was employed in polar mode. A hysteresis loop and a paramagnetic behavior have been recorded for samples annealed in H2 ambient gas and air, respectively. Chemical composition analysis by X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy showed that Co atoms are bounded to oxygen and no metallic clusters are present. Moreover, it indicates the formation of high spin Co2+ for the sample x = 0.008 annealed in H2 ambient gas. The origin of magnetization can be attributed to the contribution of oxygen vacancies in the spin polarization of the structure.