Nanostructured PVP/SiO2 Antireflective Coating for Solar Panel Applications

In this work, a nanostructured antireflective coating is created using a simple aqueous dip coating method. The addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone as an adhesion layer is shown to significantly impact the formation of nanostructures on the surface of the coating. The resulting variation in surface roughness creates a layer with a graded index of refraction. These films create an antireflective surface that increases the optical transmittance of glass substrates from 94.5% for silica nanoparticle films to 98.6% for PVP enhanced silica nanoparticle films at 500 nm wavelength.