A novel approach to durable and scalable anti-soiling coatings for solar modules by use of cerium oxide films Jayna Krishna Mahesh Patel, Claire J. Carmalt, Ivan P. Parkin Materials Chemistry Centre,Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, WC1H 0AJ, UK Advances in solar module utilities underpin an important approach for novel sources of renewable energy. Use of solar modules for the generation of photovoltaic power is now competitive with conventional means of electricity generation. However, soiling remains a primary challenge to overcome with solar utilities. There is an evident need for the development of self-cleaning solar modules. Inorganic, rare Earth oxide layers (Ce, Y,Lu, Er) have proven through various applications to be durable, UV stable, oxidant resistant and have intrinsic hydrophobicity with a water contact angle range of 110-125°. [1,2] The reduced number of examples of cerium oxide layers being used for hydrophobic surfaces reported in literature prompted our investigation into the coordination of cerium to donor ligands that decompose > 600 °C. This work details the growth of cerium oxide films via Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition (AACVD) using 9 coordinate cerium precursors, as shown in Figure 1. [3] Cerium dipivaolymethanate ([Ce(thd) 4 ]) has been synthesised and used as a precursor for the deposition of cerium oxide onto glass substrates at varying temperatures. Hydrophobic water contact angles ranging from 92 – 121° were achieved. The hydrophobic films were characterised by X-ray Diffraction techniques, UV-Vis and XPS analysis.
Figure 1 – General Schematic for AACVD. R-used with permission from P. Marchand et al. References 1. G. Azimi, R. Dhiman, H.-M. won, A. T. Paxson and K. K. Varanasi, Nature Materials, 2013, 12 , 315- 320. 2. Y. Zhao, Materials, 2012, 5 , 1413-1438. 3. P. Marchand, I. A. Hassan, I. P. Parkin and C. J. Carmalt, Dalton Transactions, 2013, 42 , 9406.
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