A facile strategy to prepare antireflection coatings with high transmittance and improved mechanical stability and application in crystalline silicon solar modules

Transparent materials with a low refraction index are used to eliminate an important energy loss in photovoltaic conversion which is caused by the Frensenl reflection at the air-substrate interface of a solar cell. Herein, we prepared the silica antireflection coating (AR) with low index by an acid-base-catalyzed sol-gel approach. The application of the AR coating can efficiently reduce the light reflection and which exhibits a maximum transmittance of T-max = 99.4% at visible wavelengths from 380 nm to 800 nm. When the AR coating was applied to the silicon modules, leading to a significant efficiency enhancement from 16.18% to 16.83%. In addition, the AR coatings feature good adhesion and exhibit satisfactory mechanical stability under outdoor conditions. These results indicate a significant development for AR coatings applied in silicon modules as well as present a promising alternative to reduce the cost of energy.

Automated summary

Silica antireflection coatings prepared by an acid-base-catalyzed sol-gel approach can effectively reduce light reflection, improve the efficiency of photovoltaic modules, and exhibit good adhesion and mechanical stability, offering a promising alternative for cost reduction in energy.