Solar photovoltaics is a significant renewable energy source. However, solar PV panels' efficiency decreases due to dust accumulation on their surface, leading to decreased power and increased maintenance costs. A super-hydrophobic, optically transparent, and self-cleaning modified nano-coatings have been synthesized using HDTMS-nano-silica and applied as a top-glass cover on solar PV cells to address this issue. The nano-coating is found to improve the efficiency of the PV panels and reduce the cleaning costs.
In the first phase, modified HDTMS-nano-SiO2 coatings are synthesized using HDTMS and triethyl amine. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) studies have confirmed the presence of silica nanoparticles and successful modification to HDTMS-nano-SiO2. Five potential samples have been characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the hydrophobicity is tested using a water contact angle test (WCA). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) studies have revealed the stability of HDTMS-nano-SiO2 at higher temperatures, and demonstrational assessment of transparency is also tested.
In the second phase, the environmental stability of the HDTMS-nano-SiO2 coating is evaluated using three identical solar PV cells. The experimental results demonstrated that nanomaterial-coated-uncleaned solar PV cells outperform uncoateddusty-uncleaned solar PV cells efficiency by 16% and regularly physically cleaned uncoated solar PV cells efficiency by 6.5%. The nano-coating has a 35-day active duration.
The synthesized HDTMS-nano-SiO2 coating proves to be a cost-effective solution to improve solar PV panels' efficiency by reducing dust accumulation and minimizing cleaning costs. The study demonstrates the potential of self-cleaning nano-coatings for enhancing the performance of solar PV panels.