New method to remove dust on solar panels

Science Daily  December 9, 2019 To better understand the forces that attach and detach particles from surfaces during the self-cleaning mechanism and the effect of nanotextures on these forces, researchers in Israel prepared four silicon-based samples relevant to solar panels: (1) smooth hydrophilic (2) nanotextured hydrophilic surfaces and (3) smooth hydrophobic (4) nanotextured hydrophobic surfaces. They found that hydrophilic particle removal increased from ∼41%, from hydrophilic smooth Si wafers to 98% from superhydrophobic Si-based nanotextured surfaces. They determined that the reason for the increased particle removal is due to the reduction of the adhesion force between the particle and the […]