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Title: Advanced X-ray Scattering and Spectroscopy Characterization of an Antisoiling Coating for Solar Module Glass

Abstract

When dust and other particulates accumulate on the surface of solar modules, the power output of these soiled modules is significantly reduced. To combat this issue, antisoiling coatings can be placed on the top glass surface of solar modules. While there exists some understanding of how antisoiling coatings reduce soiling and reflection losses, approaches to characterize the durability and stability of the chemistry and morphology of antisoiling PV glass module coatings and how they evolve in response to soiling interactions are currently underdeveloped. Here we present the use of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) as a methodology for studying the morphology and chemistry of pristine and soiled antisoiling coatings. Here, this work demonstrates the effectiveness of SAXS in observing coating morphology despite the presence of soil surface layers—a capability which sets it apart as a strong characterization tool for antisoiling coatings on PV glass. XPS and XAS are used as complementary techniques to characterize the evolution of coating surface chemistry before and after soiling. XAS is shown to detect subtle chemical changes in the coating surface that cannot be detected by XPS.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  2. WattGlass, Inc., Fayetteville, AR (United States)
  3. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1598421
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515; ECCS-1542152
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
ACS Applied Energy Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 2; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 2574-0962
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; antisoiling; antireflection; photovoltaic; glass coating; SAXS; XAS; NEXAFS

Citation Formats

Moffitt, Stephanie L., Fleming, Robert A., Thompson, Corey S., Titus, Charles J., Kim, Eungi, Leu, Leon, Toney, Michael F., and Schelhas, Laura T. Advanced X-ray Scattering and Spectroscopy Characterization of an Antisoiling Coating for Solar Module Glass. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1021/acsaem.9b01316.
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Moffitt, Stephanie L., Fleming, Robert A., Thompson, Corey S., Titus, Charles J., Kim, Eungi, Leu, Leon, Toney, Michael F., & Schelhas, Laura T. Advanced X-ray Scattering and Spectroscopy Characterization of an Antisoiling Coating for Solar Module Glass. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.9b01316
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Moffitt, Stephanie L., Fleming, Robert A., Thompson, Corey S., Titus, Charles J., Kim, Eungi, Leu, Leon, Toney, Michael F., and Schelhas, Laura T. Mon . "Advanced X-ray Scattering and Spectroscopy Characterization of an Antisoiling Coating for Solar Module Glass". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.9b01316. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1598421.
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@article{osti_1598421,
title = {Advanced X-ray Scattering and Spectroscopy Characterization of an Antisoiling Coating for Solar Module Glass},
author = {Moffitt, Stephanie L. and Fleming, Robert A. and Thompson, Corey S. and Titus, Charles J. and Kim, Eungi and Leu, Leon and Toney, Michael F. and Schelhas, Laura T.},
abstractNote = {When dust and other particulates accumulate on the surface of solar modules, the power output of these soiled modules is significantly reduced. To combat this issue, antisoiling coatings can be placed on the top glass surface of solar modules. While there exists some understanding of how antisoiling coatings reduce soiling and reflection losses, approaches to characterize the durability and stability of the chemistry and morphology of antisoiling PV glass module coatings and how they evolve in response to soiling interactions are currently underdeveloped. Here we present the use of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) as a methodology for studying the morphology and chemistry of pristine and soiled antisoiling coatings. Here, this work demonstrates the effectiveness of SAXS in observing coating morphology despite the presence of soil surface layers—a capability which sets it apart as a strong characterization tool for antisoiling coatings on PV glass. XPS and XAS are used as complementary techniques to characterize the evolution of coating surface chemistry before and after soiling. XAS is shown to detect subtle chemical changes in the coating surface that cannot be detected by XPS.},
doi = {10.1021/acsaem.9b01316},
journal = {ACS Applied Energy Materials},
number = 11,
volume = 2,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 21 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Mon Oct 21 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.9b01316
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Cited by: 3 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: illustration of the two soiling/ cleaning protocols used to test the WattGlass coating. ( 1) First soiling is performed in the chamber with Arizona Test Dust (A2). A dust cloud is created by flowing compressed air through a mesh-covered funnel filled with dust. The dust is allowed tomore » settle onto the samples on the floor of the chamber for 1 min. ( 2) Afterward, the deposited soil is partially removed, either by blowing gently flowing air over the sample (2a) or by flowing Milli-Qpurified water over the sample (2b). (3) Samples are then set aside for measurement or dried and placed back in the soiling chamber for more cycles (up to 5).« less
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