Effects of Nanocoating on the Performance of Photovoltaic Solar Panels in Al Seeb, Oman

Abstract

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are projected to become the largest contributor of clean electricity generation worldwide. Maintenance and cleaning strategies are crucial for optimizing solar PV operations, ensuring a satisfactory economic return of investment. Nanocoating may have potential for optimizing PV operations; however, there is insufficient scientific evidence that supports this idea. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of nanocoating on the performance of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels installed in Al Seeb, Oman. A further study was also carried out to observe the influence of coating layers on the performance of PV panels. One SiO2 nanocoated solar panel, another regularly cleaned PV panel, and a reference uncleaned panel were used to carry out the study. The site of the study was treeless and sandy, with a hot and dry climate. A data logger was connected to the solar PV panel and glass panel to record the resulting voltage, current, temperature, and solar radiation. It was observed that nanocoated PV panels outperformed both regular PV panels and uncleaned PV panels. Nanocoated PV panels demonstrated an average efficiency of 21.6%, showing a 31.7% improvement over uncleaned panels and a 9.6% improvement over regularly cleaned panels. Although nanocoating displayed high efficiency, regular cleaning also contributes positively. Furthermore, even though nanocoated PV panels outperformed the other two panels, it is important to note that the performance difference between the regular cleaned PV panels and the nanocoated PV panels was small. This indicates that regular cleaning strategies and nanocoating can further contribute to maintaining a more efficient solar PV system. Coating in many layers was also observed to influence the performance of PV panels insignificantly, mainly the fourth layer coating appeared to have formed sufficient mass to retain heat.