Preparation of corrosion resistant and anti- ultraviolet radiation anti-reflection film with IBTS and TEOS

The anti-reflective film is one of the important and economical ways to improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency of solar cells. In order to improve the weather ability of SiO ₂ antireflection film prepared with sol-gel method, the mixture of isobutyl triethoxysilane (IBTS) and tetraethyl silicate (TEOS) as silicon source was used to prepare the porous anti-reflection film with dip-coating, in which polyethylene glycol mono-methyl ether (mPEG) as porogen. The effects of the addition amount of IBTS on the structure and properties of the anti-reflection film were investigated. The results show that both the porosity and the transmittance of the film increased first and then decreased with the increase of the amount of IBTS. When the amount of IBTS was 6 ml, the film’s average transmittance within 380–1100 nm wavelength range reached the maximum 93.61%, 4.4 percentage points higher than that of the glass substrate. Moreover, the film’s adhesion strength reached grade 0, and its hardness was greater than 9 H. When the coated glass was used as the cover instead of the substrate glass, the efficiency of monocrystalline silicon solar cells improved from 11.64–12.26%, a relative increase of 4.93%. The film’s hardness and adhesion strength changed little after 100 hours of UV lamp irradiation, while the average transmittance in the range of 380–1100 nm decreased with 0.45 percentage points. After immersion in hydrochloric acid solution for 80 h, the film hardness decreased to 8H, and the adhesion strength decreased to grade 1, while the transmittance increased with the increase of immersion time. When the immersion time reached 100 h, the film’s transmittance increased 0.81%.