Fabrication of highly transparent self‐cleaning protection films for photovoltaic systems

Abstract

ABSTRACT A moth‐eye anti‐reflective structure was fabricated by hot‐embossing and UV nanoimprint lithography on a solar cell protective film to suppress the reflection of incident light. Moreover, a superhydrophobic surface was developed by reducing the surface energy by forming a hydrophobic self‐assembled monolayer coating on an anti‐reflective structured resin surface. Therefore, the transmittance of incident light was increased by the anti‐reflective structure. As a result, the solar cell efficiency was enhanced and the total accumulated electrical energy generated by a solar cell with a nano‐patterned polymeric film was increased. The efficiency of each solar cell was evaluated by an analysis of its I‐V characteristics using a solar simulator, and the external quantum efficiency according to the wavelength of incident light was analyzed by using an incident photon‐to‐current conversion efficiency system. Finally, the enhancement of the generated power was confirmed by a field test and a power charging experiment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.