Enhancement of Optical Properties of Anti-Reflection Coatings on Solar PV Cells through Hybrid TiO2-SiO2 Nanoparticles

Nowadays, harvesting energy from unconventional energy sources is an emerging method. Of those unconventional energy sources, solar energy is a prominent source due to its abundance, sustainability, versatility, cost-effectiveness, and adaptable technological advancements. Solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) cells have the capacity to convert solar radiation into electrical energy. However, there is a roughly 30% decrease in conversion efficiency due to the reflection of photons inherent to this approach. Photon reflection is mainly based on the solar cell surface’s optical properties and physical properties. In order to address this issue, a single and double-layer Anti-Reflection (AR) surface was applied using a combination of TiO2 and SiO2 nanoparticles through the technique of spin coating. Hybrid TiO2-SiO2 nanoparticles are derived from their precursors by using the sol-gel process. The XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) method is employed to confirm the chemical phase of TiO2-SiO2 nanomaterials. An analysis has been conducted on how the thickness and roughness of the coating impact the optical characteristics of surfaces treated with Anti-Reflection coatings. Morphological information and Chemical Elements concentration are obtained through FESEM and EDAX analysis. The water contact angle has been measured to ensure the hydrophobicity nature of AR surfaces. Subsequently, the UV-Visible spectrometer is used to examine the efficacy of the Anti-Reflection coating by analyzing its spectral responses, including reflectance, absorbance, and bandgap energy properties. Due to the enhanced optical properties, the power conversion efficiency of the AR-coated sample resulted in 18.44% from 17.11%, which is the efficiency of the uncoated sample.