Durability under maintenance operations of antisoiling coatings

 
Hydrophobic surfaces have been studied over the last two decades in both academic and industrial areas. Currently, several antisoiling coating products are commercially available although their durability under real conditions has not been investigated yet. The present study is focused on the development of an innovative antisoiling (i.e., dust-phobic) coating to be deposited onto solar glass by a scalable methodology, and the evaluation of its resistance to cleaning operations. Two strategies to increase the glass surface wettability before the coating application have been chosen, low-pressure plasma (LPP) and surface pre-treatments by chemical reaction. Different type of antisoiling coating formulations have been applied onto solar glass by dip coating. The durability has been studied by analyzing the influence of mechanical and chemical tests on their surface properties. These tests have been designed emulating the maintenance operations of solar farms. The influence on surface wettability has been characterized by contact angle analysis.