Multi-scale Optimization on Interfacial Evaporative Cooling for Photovoltaic Performance Enhancement

Over 70% of incident sunlight is wasted as heat in silicon photovoltaics (PV), raising operating temperatures and degrading performance. This study proposes efficient interfacial evaporation-based cooling technology and systematically optimizes it towards array-scale applications. Research confirms the evaporator's water transport capacity far exceeds the thermal load (∼1200 W/m² max). A thin-film evaporator achieves superior cooling, reducing PV temperature by nearly 18 °C. A developed multiphysics model shows excellent agreement with experiments, accurately predicting PV temperature, electrical characteristics, and evaporation rate. Simulations reveal that a moisture boundary layer (MBL) forms on the PV backside; minimizing its thickness is key to enhancing cooling. Array-level analysis demonstrates that simply increasing installation height in existing PV plants improves rear ventilation sufficiently. This approach achieves up to 22.3 °C temperature reduction and an 8.9% relative power efficiency gain without inducing electrical mismatch. The work provides both a theoretical foundation and practical pathways for efficient thermal management in PV. © 2026 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.