Antireflection cum photocatalytic with superhydrophilic based durable single layer mesoporous TiO2 - ZrO2 coating surface for efficient solar photovoltaic application

The cover glass of the solar panel benefits greatly from the antireflection cum photocatalytic with durable superhydrophilic (SHF) coating on float glass, which is here referred to as solar cover glass (SCG). In this study, such coatings were coated as a single layer on SCG as a replacement for the glass that covers solar cells, and their performance was compared to that of the bare texture solar cover glass (TSCG) which available in market. Using the sol–gel dip-coating method, coatings were created from stable sol utilizing titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP), zirconium (IV) oxychloride octahydrate (ZOC), and block co-polymer P123 (surfactant), then dried at 80 °C/2 h and heated for at 400 °C/h. The coatings were deposited on glass with dimensions of 150 mm × 150 mm and had a thickness of 186 ± 10 nm. They had a refractive index value of 1.4295±0.002 and water contact angle (WCA) of 5 – 6°. These coatings were found to be homogeneous and had good adhesion and pencil hardness ∼4H. The coatings' hardness and elastic modulus were also measured using the nano-indentation method with an optimum 500 µN stress and were found to be 0.7909 ± 0.05 GPa and 37.59 ± 1 GPa, respectively. The formation of mesoporous coating as observed by ATR FT-IR and the genesis of the Ti-O-Zr network structure was confirmed by TEM, FESEM, AFM and Raman spectroscopy analysis. Coated glass showed an increase of > 3 % in average transmission in the wavelength range of 700 to 1100 nm due to a lower RI value than substrate along with chemical and thermal stability of the coatings. Moreover, upto 5% increase in photocurrent density Jsc (mA/cm2) was found as compared to uncoated glass substrate (SCG). Furthermore, the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under UV irradiation and analysis using Raman spectroscopy indicated the photocatalytic ability of the coatings. Its triple functional single layer coated float glass (SCG) is therefore anticipated to be helpful and effective as a replacement for TSCG for home to agricultural applications.