Singgih Dwi Prasetyo, Yuki Trisnoaji, Zainal Arifin, Aditya Rio Prabowo
Photovoltaic–thermal collectors enable simultaneous electricity and heat generation; however, their large-scale deployment is limited by inefficient heat management and suboptimal thermal performance. Although numerous experimental and numerical studies have investigated enhancement techniques, a rigorous quantitative synthesis comparing fin geometry modifications and nanofluid applications remains lacking. This study conducts a systematic review and meta-analysis of 63 peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2025 to quantify the magnitude and consistency of thermal performance improvements in photovoltaic–thermal systems using a random-effects model. The pooled results show that fin geometry modifications improve thermal efficiency by 12.14 percent, with a 95 percent confidence interval of 10.64 to 13.64 percent and a significance level of p < 0.001; wavy fins provide the highest enhancement at 16.8 ± 3.8 percent. Nanofluids demonstrate a greater pooled improvement of 16.82 percent, with a 95 percent confidence interval of 15.47 to 18.17 percent and p < 0.001, and graphene-based nanofluids achieve the most substantial performance gains at 22.3 ± 5.2 percent. Optimal nanofluid concentrations are identified within the 1.5 to 2.5 percent volume fraction range, balancing thermal conductivity enhancement and viscosity-related penalties. The theoretical integration of optimized fin geometry and nanofluids suggests potential cumulative thermal efficiency improvements exceeding 28 percent. This study provides the first quantitative comparison of these two dominant enhancement strategies and highlights their mechanistic and design implications. The findings offer evidence-based guidance for photovoltaic–thermal system optimization and outline key research priorities, including hybrid strategy validation, durability assessment, and techno-economic analysis to support commercial scalability. © 2026 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Power Plant Engineering Technology, Faculty of Vocational Studies, State University of Malang, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, 57126, Indonesia
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