Key Engineering Materials Vol. 957

Abstract: Solar energy contributes to the development of various industries involving the energy sector. One of the immediate uses of solar energy is in solar-driven desalination technologies, which gives an impact on the issue of water security and assuring safe water for hard-to-reach communities. However, there are limited studies about solar availability and unpredictability that results in the inefficient performance of solar desalination. The focus of this research is to determine the characteristics of the solar simulator using halogen lamps and aluminum plates as the thermal absorber. This study involves the fabrication and experimentation of a solar simulator using an aluminum metal sheet as a thermal absorber. Halogen lamps were used as artificial sunlight as their source of temperature and solar irradiation. Experimentations are carried out indoors, capable of repetitive performances within defined limits. The actual and simulated data collected such as temperature, solar irradiance, and voltage were compared in this study. Results showed that the simulated data from the simulator is within the acceptable range of values from International Electrotechnical Commission standards. Further improvements in the solar simulator setup involve the improvement of the data gathering tools and automation setup in terms of the design of various angles.

Abstract: Herein, carbon nanofiber composites derived from polyacrylonitrile/MXene (PAN) using electrospinning technique are proposed as electrode for supercapacitors. Carbon/MXene composite nanofibers were successfully prepared at different MXene contents of 0, 4, 8, and 12 wt. %. Raman spectra displayed rising I_G/I_D ratio with increase MXene content. XRD results confirmed the embed MXene merged with carbon amorphous. The thermal stability of composite fibers was decreased with adding MXene. Carbon/MXene at 8 wt. % revealed the highest electrochemical supercapacitor of 155.25 F g^-1 at 1.0 A g^-1 with 100% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles. Thus, PANMX8 has great potential for supercapacitor application with long-life cycles and fast-charging ability.