Abstract The performance of the solar photovoltaic system has increased appreciably in recent years through several contributions made by scientists. However, the design efficiency is not achieved in practical scenarios due to various losses incurred during operation. One of the major parameters which deteriorates the operational performance of a solar PV system is the accumulation of dust and dirt over the surface of PV panels which causes significant drop in efficiency. The dust accumulated obstructs light energy reaching the solar cells and reduces power generation. Hence, frequent cleaning of the PV panel becomes essential in order to reduce losses due to soiling, which in turn requires a large quantity of water. In the present work, to overcome the above said soiling loss, an experimental investigation was carried out on a PV Panel coated with self-cleaning material. The material used for coating was Fluoro Alkyl Silane (FAS) with Silica nano particle. This coating material has a self-cleaning, hydrophobic and anti-static property due to which the dust does not stick to the panel. Comparison was made to analyse the difference in performance between the PV panel with and without coating. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to observe the morphology and thickness of coatings. Further, the increase in hydrophobicity of the coated surface was measured and reported. It is construed from the results that in the presence of dust accumulated over a period of one month, the coated panel displayed a percentage efficiency enhancement of 14.38% when compared to the uncoated panel.
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