Anti-soiling and highly transparent coatings with multi-scale features

Polyzos, Georgios; Sharma, Jaswinder K.; Smith, D Barton; Tuncer, Enis; Park, Jaehyeung; Voylov, Dmitry N.; Sokolov, Alexei P.; Meyer III, Harry M.; Aman, Matthew

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2018.09.011

Title: Anti-soiling and highly transparent coatings with multi-scale features

Journal Article · Tue Sep 18 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2018.09.011· OSTI ID:1474647

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^[1]; Tuncer, Enis ^[2];

^[1]; Voylov, Dmitry N. ^[3];

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^[5]; Aman, Matthew ^[6]

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Energy and Transportation Science Division
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Department of Chemistry
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Chemical Sciences Division; Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Department of Chemistry
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
NRG Energy Services, Houston, TX (United States)

We report that soiling of optical surfaces due to sand and dust accumulation is the main cause for decreased efficiency of concentrating solar power and photovoltaic installations in desert areas. Nanostructured coatings with tailored surface roughness can reduce the rate of soil accumulation and maintain the high optical performance of the solar mirrors and cover glass. Here, we investigate the correlation between the size and structure of the surface features of the coating and its anti-soiling and optical properties. To control the morphology of the surface features we developed two types of coating: (1) based on small size (30–50 nm) silica particles with nanostructured surface and (2) based on unstructured nanoparticles with bimodal size distribution (80 and 35 nm). We tailored the surface features of the coatings to achieve synergistic improvements over different length-scales and thus decrease the adhesion force between the soil particles and the surface. Adhesion force measurements were performed using atomic force microscopy. The adhesion force and energy required to separate a silica particle from the surface of coated solar glass was significantly lower than the respective values from the surface of uncoated solar glass. A falling sand abrasion test, modeled after the procedure in ASTM D968, was performed. The optical properties of coated and uncoated solar glass were measured before and after the soiling test. Coated solar mirror samples were tested in the field. The results of the field test provided evidence that the anti-soiling coating is effective at reducing soiling and improving the specular reflectances of the coated mirrors. Finally, the use of the developed anti-soiling coating can be extended to other power-grid applications where reducing the soil accumulation is valuable.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1474647

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1642297

Journal Information:: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 188, Issue C; ISSN 0927-0248

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 20 works

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Transparent superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic nanoparticle textured coatings: comparative study of anti-soiling performance Jang, Gyoung Gug; Smith, D. Barton; Polizos, Georgios Nanoscale Advances, Vol. 1, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1039/c8na00349a	journal	January 2019
Water Saving in CSP Plants by a Novel Hydrophilic Anti-Soiling Coating for Solar Reflectors Wette, Johannes; Fernández-García, Aránzazu; Sutter, Florian Coatings, Vol. 9, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings9110739	journal	November 2019
Testing the Durability of Anti-Soiling Coatings for Solar Cover Glass by Outdoor Exposure in Denmark Oehler, Gizelle C.; Lisco, Fabiana; Bukhari, Farwah Energies, Vol. 13, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3390/en13020299	journal	January 2020

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