Probing the hydrophilic behaviour of e-beam evaporated silica thin films for PV-soiling application

Abstract

In this work, we report on the controlled change of the wetting behaviour of silica thin films deposited by a reactive e-beam evaporation. The as-deposited coated surfaces were treated with acetone solvent using an ultra-sonic bath followed by characterising their contact angles. As confirmed by a repeated contact angle measurement, the silica thin films changed their wetting behaviour from superhydrophilic to hydrophilic which we attributed to the creation of OH groups and hydroxylation process. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis suggested a SiO x stoichiometry of SiO1.85 for the non-treated samples and SiO1.91 for the solvent-treated ones. Such promising results pave the way to develop a cost-effective and efficient anti-soiling and self-cleaning coating for a large-scale application.

Anti-Soiling Coatings for Enhancement of PV Panel Performance in Desert Environment: A Critical Review and Market Overview

“…The dust accumulation on PV glass modules significantly reduces modules’ output power ( Figure 3 ). Hence, the PV industry has been active in developing anti-soiling and anti-reflection coatings [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. However, very few experimental works have reported such layers for a longer period of testing time considering natural sandstorms along with other cleaning procedures [ 43 ].…”