Silica nanoparticle antireflective coating with PVP adhesion layer

In this work, a transparent polymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), is used as an adhesion layer for silica nanoparticle antireflective glass coatings. PVP was found to significantly increase the uniformity of the deposited silica nanoparticle film and results in an average transmittance of greater than 98% in the wavelength range of 450-1100 nm. Silica nanoparticle coatings deposited without the PVP layer resulted in an average transmittance of 95%. When the PVP/SiO₂ coated glass was used to package a crystalline silicon solar cell, the short circuit current was increased to 14.97 mA/cm² from 13.90 mA/cm² for the same cell packaged with bare glass.