Anti-Reflective Coatings for Solar Panels
Photo Credit: Enlight Earth
In December of 2009, a record-breaking multicrystalline silicon solar panel was created that achieved 17 percent conversion efficiency. That achievement was made possible in part thanks to DSM Functional Coatings, a tech company based in the Netherlands. DSM's KhepriCoat™ anti-reflective coating system improves the light transmission of solar panel glass by about 4 percent. That enables the solar cells within to receive and convert more solar energy into electricity, thus improving the overall efficiency of the solar module.
DSM continues to research ways to produce better, more durable, flexible and even more anti-reflective coatings at cheaper costs. A goal that brings to mind the one-two punch for solar researchers: increasing efficiency while simultaneously reducing material costs. The record-breaking panel in question that utilized DSM's KhepriCoat coating was a joint effort between DSM, Norwegian company REC and the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN).
17 percent module efficiency is a milestone among multicrystalline silicon products, the second most efficient solar product (behind monocrystalline silicon) on the market today. Should DSM continue to optimize its anti-reflective coatings at a good pace, perhaps we'll have another record broken this year.
Sources: Solar Glazing Magazine and DSM Functional Coatings
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