Superhydrophobic templated TiO2 photocatalyst for solar panel glasses

Photovoltaic (PV) is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into directcurrent electricity . Because it is safe, renewable and pollution-free, PV has advanced considerably in recent years inlarge scale. These installations usually are located in sun-drenched desert areas where dry weather and winds sweepdust into the air and deposit it onto the surface of solar panel. Because of this problems Cleaning them is very importantto maintain their performance [1,2]. If the surfaces of the solar cell array were covered with a pellucid self-cleaningnano-film, it will keep clean. The self-cleaning nano-film can make of super-hydrophobic materials. Superhydrophobicsurfaces such as the leaves of the lotus plant show high hydrophobicity and extremely low wettability. Thenanostructures of this surface can enhance the contact angle (CA) to higher than 150, so the water droplets that hit thesurface would quickly roll off, carrying dust and other particles with them [3-5]. Also when the catalysts that possess ahydrophobic surface and when they have the appropriate surface nanostructure and microstructure, they becomesuperhydrophobic. To obtain of this goal we synthesized mesopours templated TiO2 on glass and PDMS layers coatedto titanium dioxide (TiO2) surfaces to investigate of the photocatalytic activity. In the other words, we synthesized asuperhydrophobic brush like photocatalytic TiO2 by grafting polydimethylsiloxane into the pores of catalyst. Thephotocatalytic activity is enhanced for the superhydrophobic TiO2 with a PDMS layer comparing with bare TiO2. Ourwork will be helpful to develop guidelines for modifying catalyst surfaces with hydrophobic properties andsimultaneously maintain high catalytic activity for self-cleaning in solar panels.

Keywords:

Photovoltaic (PV) , Self-cleaning , Super-hydrophobic