Project team
- Ioannis Papakonstantinou, University College London (UK)
- Manish Tiwari, University College London (UK)
- Namrata Sengar, University of Kota (India)
- Anand Upadhyay, The Energy and Resources Institute (India)
- Renato Machado Cotta, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
- Pranav Gadhia, ARS GlassTech Pvt. Ltd. (India)
- Deepak Gadhia, MSA Renewtech Foundation (India)
- Satheesh Krishnamurthy, The Open University (UK)
UN Sutainable Development Goals addressed
- Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
Abstract
Photovoltaic (PV) panels are the most common means to harvest solar energy – the most abundant renewable energy source - and convert it to electricity. Due to dust accumulation, PV cell efficiency can drop by about 40% within a year in a dusty climate. Cleaning PV panels by traditional approaches damages the cell surfaces and consumes large quantities of water – this exacerbates the water scarcity issues, in particular in water starved regions in western India and Sub-Saharan Africa, which are attractive locations for solar energy.
In fact, this mismatch of solar and water supply is also prevalent in Brazil and a number of other low and middle income countries (LMICs). In solar thermal systems, the light concentrating mirrors suffer similarly. Therefore, there is an urgent need for smart cleaning that avoids surface damage and the water loss – the solution of this problem clearly has direct energy and environmental benefits.
We wish to use ‘self-cleaning’ superhydrophobic and transparent coatings as the solution. If designed properly, droplets on can roll-off such coatings at minor tilting (<10 degrees) the surfaces. The rolling drops can collect the dust with them, thereby facilitating energy-efficient ‘self-cleaning’ with minimal water use. Clearly, for practical exploitation, the coatings must also be robust and survive the rather harsh dusty and/or windy conditions. Additionally, the coatings formulation should avoid use of harsh chemical usage, be field-deployable to repair minor local damages and be scalable.
The current project seeks to address these challenges and introduce scalable, spray coated and transparent superhydrophobic coatings as a water saving, dust mitigation strategy for PV cells and solar-thermal mirrors. We also seek to deploy the coatings in realistic test conditions in several states in India and in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and demonstrate the sustenance of PV and solar-thermal efficiency.