Performance and durability of thin film solar cells via testing the abrasion resistance of broadband anti-reflection coatings

Abstract

Reflection from the front glass of solar modules causes over 4% optical loss leading to a significant decrease in module efficiency. Single layer solution gelation (sol-gel) anti-reflective (AR) coatings are effective over a narrow range of wavelengths, whereas reflection losses can be reduced over a broader wavelength when multilayer broadband AR coatings are applied. In this work, three different multilayer AR coatings including 4-layer SiO2/ZrO2, 4-layer SiO2/ITO, and 6-layer SiO2/ZrO2 were deposited using magnetron sputtering. The abrasion resistance is important because the coatings will be subject to regular cleaning cycles. A variety of abraders including Felt pad, CS-10 and CS-8 under different loads are used. The optical performance and durability of these coatings were analyzed using a spectrophotometer, optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, and scanning white light interferometer. No damage was observed after abrasion of the coatings with a felt pad under 1 and 2 N loads. However, there was a slight increase in Weighted Average Reflection. When coatings were tested with CS-10 and CS-8 abraders, coatings with ZrO2 resulted in higher scratch resistance in comparison to coating with ITO. However, all-dielectric broadband AR coatings are more durable and have better optical performance compared to single layer sol-gel coatings.

Keywords

• Abrasion resistance
• Anti-reflection (AR) coating
• Photovoltaic (PV)

References

1. [1] Gupta, P, Pandey, A, Vairagi, K, Mondal, SK. Solving Fresnel equation for refractive index using reflected optical power obtained from Bessel beam interferometry. Review of Scientific Instruments 2019; 90(1): 015110. DOI: 10.1063/1.5043240
2. [2] Van den Berg, PM, Fokkema, JT. The Rayleigh hypothesis in the theory of diffraction by a perturbation in a plane surface. Radio Science 1980; 15(4): 723–732. DOI: 10.1029/RS015i004p00723
3. [3] Lien, S, Wuu, D, Yeh, W, Liu, J. Tri-layer antireflection coatings (SiO2/SiO2–TiO2/TiO2) for silicon solar cells using a sol–gel technique. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 2006; 90(16): 2710–2719. DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2006.04.001
4. [4] Vincent, A, Babu, S, Brinley, E, Karakoti, A, Deshpande, S, Seal, S. Role of Catalyst on Refractive Index Tunability of Porous Silica Antireflective Coatings by Sol−Gel Technique. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 2007; 111(23): 8291–8298. DOI: 10.1021/jp0700736
5. [5] Chhajed, S, Schubert, MF, Kim, JK, Schubert, EF. Nanostructured multilayer graded-index antireflection coating for Si solar cells with broadband and omnidirectional characteristics. Applied Physics Letters 2008; 93(25): 251108. DOI: 10.1063/1.3050463
6. [6] Prieto‐Castrillo, F, Núñez, N, Vázquez, M. Warranty assessment of photovoltaic modules based on a degradation probabilistic model. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications 2020; 28(12): 1308–1321. DOI: 10.1002/pip.3328
7. [7] Sevinc, PC, Albayrak, FS, Bagriyanik, M, Batman, A. Lifetime and Efficiency Concerns of a Photovoltaic Power. In: ECRES 2015 3. European Conference on Renewable Energy Systems; 7-10 October 2015: Vizyon Publishing House, pp. 1–6.
8. [8] Womack, G, Kaminski, PM, Abbas, A, Isbilir, K, Gottschalg, R, Walls, JM. Performance and durability of broadband antireflection coatings for thin film CdTe solar cells. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films 2017; 35(2): 021201. DOI: 10.1116/1.4973909

9. [9] Ilse, K, Pfau, C, Miclea, PT, Krause, S, Hagendorf, C. Quantification of abrasion-induced ARC transmission losses from reflection spectroscopy. In: 2019 46th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference; 16-21 June 2019:IEEE, pp. 2883–2888.
10. [10] Phillips, BM, Jiang, P. Biomimetic Antireflection Surfaces. In: Lakhtakia A, Martin-Palma R, editors. Engineered Biomimicry, Florida, USA: Elsevier, 2013, pp. 305-331.
11. [11] Rubin, M. Optical properties of soda lime silica glasses. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 1985; 12(4): 275–288. DOI: 10.1016/0165-1633(85)90052-8
12. [12] Womack, G, Kaminski, PM, Walls, JM. Optical optimization of high resistance transparent layers in thin film cadmium telluride solar cells. Vacuum 2017; 139: 196–201. DOI: 10.1016/j.vacuum.2016.11.031
13. [13] Kosyachenko, LA, Grushko, EV, Mathew, X. Quantitative assessment of optical losses in thin-film CdS/CdTe solar cells. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2012; 96: 231–237. DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2011.09.063
14. [14] Law, AM, Wright, LD, Smith, A, Isherwood, PJM, Walls, JM. 2.3% Efficiency Gains for Silicon Solar Modules Using a Durable Broadband Anti-reflection Coating. In: 2020 47th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference; 15-21 August 2020:IEEE, pp. 0973–0975.
15. [15] Mehmood, U, Al-Sulaiman, FA, Yilbas, BS, Salhi, B, Ahmed, SHA, Hossain, MK. Superhydrophobic surfaces with antireflection properties for solar applications: A critical review. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2016; 157: 604–623. DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2016.07.038
16. [16] Shanmugam, N, Pugazhendhi, R, Madurai Elavarasan, R, Kasiviswanathan, P, Das, N. Anti-Reflective Coating Materials: A Holistic Review from PV Perspective. Energies 2020; 13(10): 2631. DOI: 10.3390/en13102631
17. [17] San Vicente, G, Bayón, R, Germán, N, Morales, A. Long-term durability of sol–gel porous coatings for solar glass covers. Thin Solid Films 2009; 517(10): 3157–3160. DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2008.11.079
18. [18] Bouhafs, D. Design and simulation of antireflection coating systems for optoelectronic devices: Application to silicon solar cells. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 1998; 52(1–2): 79–93. DOI: 10.1016/S0927-0248(97)00273-0
19. [19] Chen, D. Anti-reflection (AR) coatings made by sol–gel processes: A review. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2001; 68(3–4): 313–336. DOI: 10.1016/S0927-0248(00)00365-2
20. [20] Khan, SB, Irfan, S, Zhuanghao, Z, Lee, SL. Influence of refractive index on antireflectance efficiency of thin films. Materials 2019; 12(9): 8–10. DOI: 10.3390/ma12091483
21. [21] Ali, K, A. Khan, S, Jafri, MZM. Effect of Double Layer (SiO2/TiO2) Anti-reflective Coating on Silicon Solar Cells. International Journal of Electrochemical Science 2014; 9:7865–7874.
22. [22] Ul-Hamid, A. The effect of deposition conditions on the properties of Zr-carbide, Zr-nitride and Zr-carbonitride coatings – a review. Materials Advances 2020; 1(5): 988–1011. DOI: 10.1039/D0MA00232A
23. [23] Walls, M. Optical coatings for ophthalmic lenses by reactive magnetron sputtering. In: Optical Interference Coatings; 15 July 2001:Optical Society of America, pp. ThD1.
24. [24] Law, AM, Kaminski, PM, Isherwood, PJM, Walls, JM. An Infra-red Reflecting Optical Coating for Solar Cover Glass. In: 2019 IEEE 46th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference; 16-21 June 2019:IEEE, pp. 1913–1918.
25. [25] Javed, A. The Effect of Temperatures on the Silicon Solar Cell. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Computational and Applied Sciences 2014; 3(9): 305–308.
26. [26] British Standards Institute. BS EN 1096-2:2012. Glass in building - Coated glass Part 2: Requirements and test methods for class A, B and S coatings. London: British Standards Institute, 2012.
27. [27] American Society for Testing and Materials. ASTM TM D4060-14. Standard Test Method for Abrasion Resistance of Organic Coatings by the Taber Abraser. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2014.
28. [28] Lisco, F, Kaminski, PM, Abbas, A, Bowers, JW, Claudio, G, Losurdo, M, Walls, JM. High rate deposition of thin film cadmium sulphide by pulsed direct current magnetron sputtering. Thin Solid Films 2015; 574:43–51. DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2014.11.065
29. [29] Lind, MA, Pettit, RB, Masterson, KD. The Sensitivity of Solar Transmittance, Reflectance and Absorptance to Selected Averaging Procedures and Solar Irradiance Distributions. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering 1980; 102(1): 34–40, DOI: 10.1115/1.3266119
30. [30] Wu, X, Keane, JC, Dhere, RG, Dehart, C, Albin, DS, Duda, A, Gessert, TA, Asher, S, Levi, DH, Sheldon, P. High-Efficiency CTO/ZTO/CdS/CdTe Polycrystalline Thin-Film Solar Cells. Proc. 17th Photovoltaic Sol. Energy Conf. Exhib. 2001; pp. 995-1000.
31. [31] Walls, JM, Spencer, AG. Hard coating and the durability of anti-. reflection coatings. Opt. World. 2000; 29:40.
32. [32] Uzum, A, Kuriyama, M, Kanda, H, Kimura, Y, Tanimoto, K, Fukui, H, Izumi, T, Harada, T, Ito, S. Sprayed and Spin-Coated Multilayer Antireflection Coating Films for Nonvacuum Processed Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells. International Journal of Photoenergy 2017; 1–5. DOI: 10.1155/2017/3436271.
33. [33] Newkirk, JM, Nayshevsky, I, Sinha, A, Law, AM, Xu, Q, To, B, Ndione, PF, Schelhas, LT, Walls, JM, Lyons, AM, Miller, DC. Artificial linear brush abrasion of coatings for photovoltaic module first-surfaces. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2021; 219:110757. DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2020.110757