Anti-Soiling Nano Particulate Coating On PV-Modules

Abstract

The synthesis of anti-soiling, hydrophilic, antifogging, anti-reflective and low refractive index Nano-particles of silica was carried out using Stober’s process. The silica Nano particles were synthesized under increased angular velocity on the magnetic stirrer while the stirring time was decreased accordingly. The reaction was carried out under ambient conditions. The glass substrate was coated via dip coating technique. The hydrophilic nature of the surface was due to the Si-OH bonds formed after the hydrolysis and partial condensation of the sol has been carried out and the particle size obtained was in the range of 10-14 nm. The porosity of the surface was increased due to the pores of Nano-particles which aided in decreasing the refractive index of the surface to 1.29, hence increasing the transmittance of the surface by 5-6 %. The maximum transmittance of 99% was obtained at the wavelength of 600 nm. The durability of the surface was further increased by calcining the coated substrate glass at 500° which made the hydrogen bonds much stronger than they were before and increased the surface hardness. The synthesized coating has wide range of applications in PV-Modules due to its self-cleaning, anti-soiling and super hydrophilic nature.