am6b02192_si_001.pdf (2.03 MB)
High-Quality Hollow Closed-Pore Silica Antireflection Coatings Based on Styrene–Acrylate Emulsion @ Organic–Inorganic Silica Precursor
journal contribution
posted on 2016-04-22, 00:00 authored by Zhaolong Guo, Haixin Zhao, Wei Zhao, Tao Wang, Depeng Kong, Taojing Chen, Xiaoyan ZhangMaking use of a facile and low-cost
way for the preparation of a hierarchically organized novel hollow
closed-pore silica antireflective coating (CHAR) with tailored optical
properties and a mechanical reliability is of great interest in the
field of solar photovoltaic technology. The process mainly contains
two aspects: (1) a styrene–acrylate emulsion @ organic–inorganic
silica precursor (SA@OISP) core/shell hierarchical nanostructure, consisting of a sacrificial styrene–acrylate
(SA) primary template, was fabricated using a sol–gel method;
(2) the self-assembly of the nanostructures leads to SA@OISP nanospheres
forming the high-quality hollow closed-pore silica antireflection
coating (CHAR) by a dip-coating process and a subsequent calcination
treatment. The resulting SA@OISP nanospheres have a mean diameter
of 65.2 nm and contained a SA soft core with a mean diameter of approximately
54.8 nm and an organic–inorganic silica precursor (OISP) shell
with a thickness of approximately 6–10 nm. Furthermore, the
prepared CHAR film exhibited a high transmittance and good ruggedness.
An average transmittance (TAV) of 97.64%
was obtained, and the value is close to the ideal single-layered antireflection
coating (98.09%) over a broad range of wavelengths (from 380 to 1100
nm). The CHAR film showed a stable TAV, with attenuation values of less than 0.8% and 0.43% after the abrasion
test and the damp heat test, respectively. The conversion efficiency
of the CHAR coating cover solar modules tends to be increased by 3.75%.
The promising results obtained in this study suggest that the CHAR
film was considered as an essential component of the solar module
and were expected to provide additional solar energy harvest under
extreme outdoor climates.