The increased demand for wear-resistant and low-weight components in the automobile industry has led to the utilization of aluminum metal matrix composite parts due to their improved performance. The current work focused on optimizing the tribological factors such as applied load, rotational speed, and percentage weight fraction of the reinforcing particles for minimum dry sliding wear rate of Al6061/nano-Al₂O₃/quartz hybrid composite fabricated by stir casting. The optimization is performed by using the Taguchi L₂₇ orthogonal array experimental plan, and the result is analyzed by the help of analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result of the optimization reveals that the optimum levels of factors for the minimum wear rate are 10N, 200rpm, and 12.5. Furthermore, the ANOVA result depicts that the applied load has the highest impact (87.83) on the wear rate, followed by rotational speed (10.06) and percentage weight fraction of the reinforcement (1.60). The developed linear regression model reveals that the applied load and the rotational speed have a positive relation with the sliding wear rate. However, the percentage weight fraction of the reinforcement has a negative relation. The confirmation test proves that the predicted value of wear rate using the regression equation at optimum levels has a closer agreement with the experimental result having a 6.934 error. Furthermore, the physical property test reveals that the rise in the weight percentage of quartz particles results in a corresponding increase in the percentage porosity of the hybrid composite.

Aluminum alloys are widely used in different engineering application areas, such as aerospace, automotive, and marine industries. However, their properties need some improvement in order to enlarge their application area. Thus, the objective of the study was to improve the physical and mechanical properties of Al6061 aluminum alloy by reinforcing it with nano-Al2O3 and micro-quartz particles. The investigation primarily was focused on studying the impact of quartz particles on the mechanical and physical properties of an Al6061/nano Al2O3/quartz hybrid composite. The hybrid composite was developed using a stir casting technique, by varying the weight percentage of quartz particles at 3%, 6%, and 9%, while maintaining a constant weight percentage of nano-Al2O3 at 3.5%. To evaluate the composite's properties, test samples were prepared according to ASTM E9-09 and ASTM E23 standards for hardness, compressive strength, creep, and impact energy absorption, respectively. The results of the investigation demonstrate that, with the addition of 9 wt.% of micro-quartz particles and 3.5 wt.% of nano-Al2O3 nanoparticles, all mechanical and physical properties of the matrix were improved, except for the impact strength. Based on these results, the developed hybrid composite material can be recommended for light weight automotive spare parts such as brakes and clutch discs.

Although perovskite solar cells hold significant promise for next‐generation photovoltaic technologies, their development is hindered by challenges such as nonradiative recombination losses, limited scalability, and long‐term stability. To better understand the influence of device architecture and key fabrication parameters on photovoltaic performance, this study models and analyzes two widely adopted PSC structures—the inverted planar p–i–n and conventional n–i–p architectures—using the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulation One‐Dimensional (SCAPS‐1D) software. The effects of electron transport layer (ETL), hole transport layer (HTL), and perovskite layer thicknesses, as well as perovskite layer defect density, on the key photovoltaic parameters were systematically investigated. The results reveal that increasing the perovskite layer thickness and reducing defect density significantly improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of both structures. The p–i–n architecture achieved a higher PCE of 22.52% because of its improved fill factor (FF), whereas the n–i–p structure exhibited higher open‐circuit voltage (Voc) and short‐circuit current density (Jsc), resulting in a PCE of 21.07%. Reducing the defect density from 1E+16 (cm ⁻³ ) to 1E+12 (cm ⁻³ ) and increasing perovskite layer thickness from 500 nm to 800 nm increased the maximum PCE to 26.88% for the regular n–i–p PSC and 28.22% for the inverted p–i–n PSC. Overall, based on the theoretical analysis and comparison with experimental results reported by other researchers, the inverted p–i–n architecture emerges as a promising candidate because of its superior efficiency, lower hysteresis, and fabrication simplicity, although the selection of an effective HTL remains a significant challenge. These findings provide valuable insights for the design and optimization of efficient PSCs.