A Review of Additives and their Effects on the Hydrophobicity and Abrasion Resistance of Dip-Coated Silica-Based Anti-Reflective Coatings for Solar Panels

The photovoltaic panel is one of the most promising advancements when it comes to sustaining energy. However, being exposed to extreme and harmful atmospheric conditions can decrease its efficient transmittance. Therefore, an anti-reflective coating is added to a PV panel to provide different promising properties for the PV panel. It is used to reduce the reflection of light for more efficient transmittance. It can also possess several properties like hydrophobic self-cleaning and abrasion resistance when further modified. With these properties, PV panels become more effective and maintain their high transmission for a long time. Different materials are used in fabricating ARCs, but this review focused on silica due to its low refractive index of 1.52 using the dip-coating fabrication technique. This review focused on introducing additives such as CTAB, PMHS, and PDMS and their effects on the hydrophobicity and abrasion resistance of ARCs. Moreover, studies gathered for each additive were analyzed and compared to determine the advantages and disadvantages of each additive. Insights and perspectives were also given by focusing on the factors affecting the hydrophobicity and abrasion resistance of ARCs which may help future researchers to fabricate more efficient ARCs.