Researchers at Loughborough University’s Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST) have developed a multi-layer anti-reflection coating for glass surfaces that can reduce glare from solar panels and boost their efficiency.
The coating will improve solar module power output by about four per cent says one of the lead researchers, Professor Michael Wallis.
The coating is comprised of four alternating layers of abundant and low cost zirconium oxide and silicon dioxide. The coating is less than 300 nanometres thick and is applied using magnetron sputtering; the same technology used in the process of adding anti-reflection coatings to spectacles.
The coating reduces reflection by more than 70 per cent across the wavelength range utilised by solar panels.
While the researchers’ work has been focused on thin film cadmium telluride modules, the coating can also be applied to traditional crystalline solar panels, CIGS, organic or perovskite devices.
The researchers state the coating is scratch resistant and robust enough to be effective for the full 25 year warranty offered by many PV module manufacturers.
The researchers’ work was funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPSRC) Supergen SuperSolar Hub; a project creating the UK’s first standards lab for solar cells and incorporating a research program with a goal of boosting efficiency of next generation solar PV devices.
Further information about the coating can be viewed here.
We recently covered another solar panel coating breakthrough; one based on gold. That coating, developed by University of California Irvine scientists, exhibits a reflectivity of less than 1% over a wide wavelength range. How the two compare in terms of cost is not known at this point.
While these latest developments can boost the efficiency of solar panels, they can also address the annoyance factor in some installation scenarios where glare creates a distraction.
