Abstract
ZnO nanorod arrays were fabricated on glass through hydrothermal way. Then a thin SiO2 film was covered on ZnO nanorod arrays using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique, and modified by stearic acid. It was found that SiO2 film only had slight effects on the contact angle and transmittance of ZnO nanorod arrays. However, it had brought a huge improvement in the UV durability of superhydrophobic ZnO nanorod arrays. The results showed that the water contact angle remains constantly at 160.5° even UV irradiation time exceeded 50 h when the deposition time of PLD was about 10 min. This structure with UV-durable superhydrophobicity and highly transmittance on glass substrate can be served as front materials in solar cells.
Highlights
Superhydrophobic surfaces have won considerable attentions because of its important application in self-cleaning, corrosion resistance, microfluidic systems and so on (Maghsoudi et al, 2019; Qu et al, 2019; Lv et al, 2020; Zhu et al, 2020)
As dust accumulates on the glass surface, the efficiency of solar cells will be reduced by nearly half (Elminir et al, 2006)
The wettability switch under UV irradiation from superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity on the surface of ZnO is caused by photochemical reactions (Feng et al, 2004)
Summary
Superhydrophobic surfaces have won considerable attentions because of its important application in self-cleaning, corrosion resistance, microfluidic systems and so on (Maghsoudi et al, 2019; Qu et al, 2019; Lv et al, 2020; Zhu et al, 2020). ZnO is a common material used to prepare superhydrophobic surface. As dust accumulates on the glass surface, the efficiency of solar cells will be reduced by nearly half (Elminir et al, 2006). It is of great importance to design a self-cleaning surface for solar cells. In addition to this property, prepared film must have good transmittance in the range of sunlight as well as being UV-durable (Park et al, 2011). It was found that this film had minimal impact on UV-Durable and Highly Transmittance solar cell. The superhydrophobic surfaces formed by ZnO micro-nano structure are easy to lose their superhydrophobicity under sunlight because of photooxidative ability (Li et al, 2013). The wettability switch under UV irradiation from superhydrophobicity to superhydrophilicity on the surface of ZnO is caused by photochemical reactions (Feng et al, 2004)
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