Issue 41, 2016

A new kind of transparent and self-cleaning film for solar cells

Abstract

A kind of one step and in situ etching method is developed to fabricate a highly optically transparent and flexible self-cleaning superhydrophobic film (SSF). This SSF exhibits a very rough surface morphology with hierarchical structure, which makes it have a contact angle of 154.6° and a sliding angle of smaller than 1°. And the SSF can also be self-cleaned in the wind. The SSF hierarchical structure scatters the incident light, but it almost doesn't attenuate the light. So the SSF has antireflection properties and a high light transmittance of 94%. The excellent self-cleaning property, high light transmittance and antireflection property mean that the SSF greatly enhances the performance of solar cells in practical working conditions. The solar cell's efficiency maintains at 95.8% of its initial value after covering with the SSF, which is about 1.7 times higher than that of the solar cell covered with dust, as in practical conditions.

Graphical abstract: A new kind of transparent and self-cleaning film for solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
02 May 2016
Accepted
12 Jul 2016
First published
13 Jul 2016

Nanoscale, 2016,8, 17747-17751

A new kind of transparent and self-cleaning film for solar cells

Q. Xu, Q. Zhao, X. Zhu, L. Cheng, S. Bai, Z. Wang, L. Meng and Y. Qin, Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 17747 DOI: 10.1039/C6NR03537J

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