Nano science and its application , PEC – 03.15.

2018

Lecture By

V. KRISHNAKUMAR , Ph.D. (Research Scholar)

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
PONDICHERRY ENGINEERING COLLEGE
PONDICHERRY-605014,INDIA.

1
A woman stands near her shack in Maharashtra's Bhamana village, where not a single
PEC – STC
home has access to electricity. More than 50LECTURE
million homes are without power in India.
Electricity in India
Statistics

• India is the 6th largest consumer of electricity in the world.

• The rapidly growing economy is energy hungry and the deficit

between demand and supply is growing.

• Revenue losses due to power failure are growing at an

alarming rate of 11.9% in last 5 years.
 Electricity in India
Statistics

• India consumes 3.4% of global energy.

• The Indian power industry is growing at a rapid pace.

• The Annual demand is increasing by 3.6% over the last 30 years.

• There is surging demand from domestic and industrial sectors.

Industrial sector − 35.5%
Domestic sector − 25.87%
Electricity in India
Statistics

• The different sources of Power in India are

Coal, Gas, Hydroelectric, Wind, Solar.

Coal is still the biggest source of Power.

• The installed capacity for power generation in India is

1,49,391.91 MW.

• Though 82.4% of villages are electrified less than 60% of

households consume electricity.
 Electricity in India
Statistics

• Per capita consumption of electricity is lowest in India.

• Industry followed by Agriculture are the two main sectors that consume power.

• But the power sector in India faces many roadblocks like inefficient distribution
systems, low capacity utilization and poor maintenance.

• In 2018, India need another 80 to 90 GW of power, the demand would be

950,000 MW by 2030.
2017
9
The major constraint to Solar Energy Generation in
India is the
high initial costs
for setting up.
 ABSTRACT
Solar PV cells used currently are very low performing cells and their solar power conversion efficiency is
only about 14-15%. To improve the solar power conversion efficiency, several attempts have been made
by researchers and once such technique is to reduce the reflection by providing textures on the glass
surface of solar cells. This texture reduces reflection by increasing the chances of reflected light bouncing
back onto the surface, rather than out to the surrounding air and thereby increase the solar cell efficiency.
The textured glass was modelled, manufactured and coated with Nano TiO2 by using Sol-Gel dip coating
method. The specific reasons to coat Nano TiO2: 1) acts as anti-reflection coating (ARC), 2) blocks the UV
rays, 3) self-cleaning agent, 4) acts as an active environmental protective layer, etc. Further the Nano ZnO
material with similar properties of Nano TiO2 is coated on textured glass surface using Electroless
technique. The method of electroless coating is selected because of the fact that in electroless coating, the
material is deposited uniformly all over the surface without use of electric current and less expensive
compared to vacuum deposition techniques.
Abstract - continued..
After coating, the Micro structure analysis were carried out by using scanning electron
microscopy (SEM), Phase and chemical composition with help of XRD. Transmittance
and reflectance were identified by using ultraviolet–visible (UV-VIS) spectrophotometer.
The performance of solar cells were investigated by using solar simulator. The results
confirmed that there is increase in transmittance about 5-6 % and solar cell efficiency
around 1.2 % of textured glass coated with TiO2 compared to commercially available
solar cells. Similarly there is increase in transmittance about 4-5% and solar cell
efficiency around 1.1 % of textured glass coated with ZnO compared to plane solar cells.
 OBJECTIVES

• To coat Nano TiO2 on the glass substrate using sol gel dip method for enhancing
the performance of solar cells

• To coat Nano ZnO on the glass substrate using electroless method

• To measure the voltage generated by solar cells after coating

• Comparison of efficiency of textured & non-textures solar cells

 SCOPE
• Synthesis of surface texture on glass coated with Nano TiO2 and ZnO to improve
the efficiency of the solar PV cell. The efficiency of the solar can be improved by
different shape of pattern, orientation and coating on the glass

• Reduce the loss of 30-40% of sun radiation which happens due to reflection,
which can be overcome by glass surface texturing with titanium di oxide coating.
Hence, the efficiency of the conventional solar PV cell could be improved
 INTRODUCTION
Solar cells, also called photovoltaic (PV) cells by scientists, convert sunlight
directly into electricity. PV gets its name from the process of converting light
(photons) to electricity (voltage), which is called the PV effect. Though solar energy
has its own advantage of replacing conventional energy its has few negative effects
as lower efficiency(14-15%), Low absorption of incident photons , More reflection
,etc. To overcome these effects we go for surface texturing, Surface texturing, either
in combination with an anti-reflection coating or by itself, can also be used to
minimize reflection.
 SOLAR PV CELL

Reasons for poor efficiency

Solar cell Efficiency is defined as the ratio of energy output from
the solar cell to input energy from the sun.
• Less energy photons which cannot knock out the electrons
• If the photons have more energy it may be wasted as heat
• Deposition of dirt and other organics particles on the PV cells
• Erosion and corrosion due to rain and other environmental changes.
 SURFACE TEXTURING
• Surface texturing, either in combination with an anti-reflection coating or by itself,
can also be used to minimize reflection. Any "roughening" of the surface reduces
reflection by increasing the chances of reflected light bouncing back onto the
surface, rather than out to the surrounding air.
 What is Electroless Coating?
Deposition of a metallic coating on a substrate without the use of
an external voltage or current.
Electroless coating mechanism
Electrolyte M
R
n+
M
R R M
n+
n+
e- e- e- Coating
Substrate

R – Reducing agent, Mn+ - Metallic ions

Simplified form of the reaction:

R R(n+) + ne-
Mn+ + ne- M
EXPERMENTAL DESIGN

Schematic Diagram of Experimental Design

The basic model of the PV solar panel has been modelled
in SOLIDWORK 2016 with different layers like glass, bus-
bar, solar wafer and back sheet and the thermal analysis of
the solar panel using ANSYS 16 has been done.
.
The model of PV solar panel is as follows:
 RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
NANO TiO2 COATING ON PLAIN &
TEXTURED GLASS SURFACE BY DIP SOLAR MODULE DESIGN
COATING

ELECTROLESS COATING OF NANO ZnO SOLAR CELL I-V CHARACTERSTICS BY

ON PLAIN & TEXURED GLASS SURFACE SOLAR SIMULATOR

THICKNESS MEASUREMENT SEM, EDS COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE STUDY

AND XRD ANALYSIS OF SOLAR PERFORMANCE OF PLAIN
AND TEXTURED GLASS COATED WITH
NANO TiO2 AND ZnO

OPTICAL PROPERTIES TRANSMITTANCE

AND REFLECTANCE DETERMINED BY
UV-VIS SPECTROSCOPY
Experimental Work
 SOL-GEL TiO2 DIP COATING PROCESS

TITANIUM
STIRRING ETHANOL
ISOPROPOXIDE
(1 HOUR) (50ml)
(6.3ml)

ACETIC ACID
(5ml)

MIXED BY MAGNETIC STIRRER

(1 hour)

GLASS PLATE IS DIPPED

(10 min)

HEATED BY MUFFLE FURNANCE

(450°C) FOR 12 HOUR
NANO TiO2 COATED ON PLAIN GLASS AND TEXTURED GLASS

TiO2 Coated On Plain Glass TiO2 Coated On Textured Glass

ELECTROLESS COATING OF NANO ZnO

Polishing using Emery

sheet #320 grit

Washed in methanol and

acetone

Sensitization using acidic

SnCl2 for 5 mins

Activation using
palladium (II) chloride
For 5 mins
 Dimethylamino Borane
Zinc Nitrate (0.05 M)
(0.05 M)

Glass substrate in bath at

pH 6.5, temperature T =
323 K and time 2 hours

Rinsed in De-Ionized
water

Flow Chart for Electro less Coating Process of Nano ZnO

ZnO COATED ON PLAIN GLASS AND TEXTURED GLASS

ZnO Coated On Plain Glass ZnO Coated On Textured Glass

 RIGAKU COATING THICKNESS GAUGE

The coating thickness was measured using Rigaku

coating thickness gauge and found as fallows ;

TiO2 = 200nm (approx.)

ZNO = 210nm (approx.)

 SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM)

(a) (b)

(c)
SEM images of (a) 100x of TiO2 coated plane glass, (b) 1000x of TiO2
coated plane glass, (c) 100x of textured TiO2 coated glass
 (a)
(b)

(c)
SEM images of (a) 100x of ZnO coated plane glass, (b) 1000x of ZnO coated
plane glass, (c) 50x of textured ZnO coated glass
 XRD Patterns of Tio2 Films Prepared By Sol-Gel Method

XRD patterns of TiO2 films shows Anatase is the dominant phase in this sample. The TiO 2 sample shows a preferred orientation in the (101)
direction, as indicated by strong characteristic peak at 2θ = 25.34°. Some anatase peaks appear at 2θ of 37.92° (004), 47.90° (200), 54.55° (105)
and 62.4° (204). A pure anatase phase is observed with characteristic peaks at 25.14° (101), 37.78° (004), 47.86° (200), 54.42° (105) and 62.62°
(204). This result shows that Sol-Gel method is very suitable to grow anatase TiO2 on glass substrates.

1200

A(101) TiO2
1000

800
Intensity

600

400
A(200)
R(211)
A(004) A(105)
200 A(204)
A(215)
R(301)
A(103) R(111) R(310)
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
2theta degree
 XRD Patterns of ZnO Films Prepared By Electroless Method

The peaks shown at 2θ=31.67°, 34.31°, 36.14°, 47.40°, 56.52°, 62.73°, 66.28°, 67.91°, 69.03°, and 72.48° were assigned to
(100), (002), (101), (102),(110), (103), (200),(112), (201), and ( 004) of ZnO, which indicates that the samples comprised
a polycrystalline wurtzite structure (Zincite). No characteristic impurity peaks were identified, which suggests a high quality
of the ZnO is present as shown in fig

1400

(101)
1200 ZnO

1000

(002)
800
(100)
Intensity

600

400 (110)
(102) (103)
200 (112)
(201)
0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2theta degree
 Transmittance of Various Samples Obtained From UV Spectrophotometer

ZnO +PLAIN GLASS

TiO2+ PLAIN GLASS

TEXTURED GLASS

60 PLAIN GLASS
TiO +TEXTURED GLASS
2
ZnO +TEXTURED GLASS

50
Transmittance %

40

30

20

10

400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Wavelength nm
Reflectance of Various Samples Obtained From UV Spectrophotometer

TiO +PLAIN
2
ZnO+PLAIN
ZnO+TEXURED
60 TiO +TEXTURED
2
PLAIN GLASS
TEXTURED GLASS
50

40
Reflectance %

30

20

10

400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Wavelength nm
 SOLAR MODULE DESIGN

Solar wafer is procured with a dimension of 450*5mm as shown in below fig . Each
the cell have voltage of 0.5 V and current 80 mA. A solar module created with 3
wafer connected in series and dimension of dimension 450* 15mm for as shown in
below figure.

Silicon Solar Wafer Silicon Solar Module

I-V CHARACTERIZATION USING SOLAR SIMULATOR (Oriel Sol3A)

Before Illumination After Illumination

Vmp = maximum voltage (volts)

Voc = open circuit voltage (volts)

Isc = short circuit current (ampere)

Imp = maximium current (ampere)

Pmax = maximum power (W)

PT = theoretical power

FF(fill factor) = (PMAX)/ (PT)

Efficiency(η) = Pout / Pin (Pin is taken as the product of the irradiance of the incident light,
I-V Curve
measured in W/m2 and Pout is output electrical power )
 0.06
0.04
0.02

Current Density (mA/cm2)

0
-0.02 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.1
Voltage (V)
Fig 4.10: Textured Glass

0.06
0.04
0.02

current density J
0
-0.02 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.1
-0.12
Voltage
Fig 4.9: Plane Glass
0.06
Current Density (mA/cm2)

0.04
0.02
0
-0.02 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.1
Voltage (V)

Fig 4.11: Plane Glass coated with Zn0

 0.06

Current Density (mA/cm2)

0.04
0.02
0
-0.02 0 0.050.10.150.20.250.30.350.40.450.50.550.60.650.70.750.80.85
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.1
Voltage (V)

Fig 4.12: Textured Glass coated with ZnO

0.06
0.04

Current Density (mS/cm2)

0.02
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85
-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.1
Voltage (V)
Fig 4.13: Plane Glass coated with TiO2
0.06
0.04
Current Density (mA/cm2)

0.02
0
0 0.050.10.150.20.250.30.350.40.450.50.550.60.650.70.750.80.85
-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.1
Voltage (V)
Fig 4.14: Textured Glass coated with TiO2
 Results obtained from Solar Simulator

Jmax max Fill factor fill

max maximum current density Voc open circuit Jsc current Pmax maximum factor in
voltage (volts) (mV/cm2) voltage (volts) density (mV/cm2) power (Mw) percentage (%) Efficiency
efficiency in
Sample percentage (%)

Glass 0.374379 0.035457 0.524296 0.038902 0.013274 0.650817 13.27426

Textured glass 0.400229 0.035672 0.552682 0.038902 0.014277 0.664033 14.27706

Plane+ ZnO coating 0.398008 0.035652 0.550219 0.038902 0.01419 0.662934 14.18997

Textured+ ZnO
coating 0.400955 0.035677 0.553469 0.038902 0.014305 0.664382 14.3049

Plane glass+ TiO2

coating 0.399646 0.035668 0.552044 0.038902 0.014254 0.663749 14.2545

Textured+ TiO2
coating 0.401973 0.035683 0.554557 0.038902 0.014343 0.664864 14.3434
 Efficiency of solar cell with different from glass samples from Solar Simulator

14.5

14.4

14.3

14.2

14.1

14

13.9
Efficiency in %

13.8

13.7

13.6

13.5

13.4

13.3

13.2

13.1

13
glass Textured glass Plane glass+ZnO coating Textured+ZnO coating Plane+ TiO2 coating Textured+ TiO2 coating
 CONCLUSION
1. EFFECT OF GLASS TEXTUIRING

The transmittance of the glass increased from 35 % to 45 %, reflectance is reduced from 56% to 45 % and the efficiency of
the solar cell is increased about 1 % compared to plain glass.

2. EFFECT OF NANO TiO2 COATING

The Nano TiO2 is coated with Sol- Gel Dip coating method over the textured glass surface and the transmittance of the coated
glass increased from 34 % to 56 %, reflectance is reduced from 56% to 34 % and the efficiency of the solar cell is increased
about 1.1 % compared to plain glass from the results obtained solar simulator.

3. EFFECT OF NANO ZnO COATING

The Nano ZnO is coated with electroless coating method over the textured glass and the transmittance of the coated glass
increased from 34 % to 46 %, reflectance is reduced from 56% to 44 % and the efficiency of the solar cell is increased about
1% compared to plain glass from the results obtained solar simulator.
 FUTURE SCOPE

1. Other Nano metal oxide like MgO, CuO, Al2O3 can be used for anti- reflecting coating.

2. Nano fluids can be chosen for better optical performance.

3. Various coating techniques can be employed to develop thin film.

4. Textured pattern can be optimized for better transmittance and reflectance.

 REFERENCES
• Jeevarani.M, R. Elansezhian, and N. Karpagavalli “Study on the Effect of Process Parameters in the Electroless Copper Coating On Solar Photovoltaic Cell”,
International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology, Volume 2, (2013), Issue 7, 164- 168.

• Ochiaia.T, A. Fujishimaa, “Photoelectrochemical properties of TiO2 photo catalyst and its application for environmental purification”, Photobiol, J. Photochem., C
Photochem. Rev. 13 (2012) 247–262.

• Kamegawa.T, Y. Shimizu, H. Yamashita, “Super hydrophobic surfaces with photocatalytic self-cleaning properties by nanocomposite coating of TiO2 and
polytetrafluoroethylene” Adv. Mater. 24 (2012) 3697–3700.

• Kim.D.J, S.H. Hahn, S.H. Oh, E.J. Kim, “Influence of calcination temperature on structural and optical properties of TiO2 thin films prepared by sol–gel dip
coating”, Mater. Lett. 57 (2000) 355–360.

• Wood T.J., G. A. Hurst, W. C. E. Schofield, R. L. Thompson, G. Oswald, J. S. O. Evans, G. J. Sharples, C. Pearson, M. C. Petty and J. P. S. Badyal, “Electroless
deposition of multi-functional zinc oxide surfaces displaying photoconductive, super hydrophobic, photo wetting, and antibacterial properties”, Journal of Materials
Chemistry 2011 22(9): 3859-3867
 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS

1. Krishnakumar.V, and Elansezhian.R “Investigation on the performance of solar

photovoltaic cells coated with titanium dioxide on textured glass surfaces”, International
journal of mechanical engineering & technology (IJMET).(Communicated)

2. Krishnakumar.V, and Elansezhian.R “Investigation on the performance of solar

photovoltaic cells coated with Nano TiO2 and ZnO on textured glass surfaces” International
journal of design and manufacturing technology (IJDMT). (Communicated)
Thank you