title: A new kind of transparent and self-cleaning film for solar cells.
abstract: A kind of one step and in situ etching method is developed to fabricate a highly optically transparent and flexible self-cleaning superhydrophobic film (SSF). This SSF exhibits a very rough surface morphology with hierarchical structure, which makes it have a contact angle of 154.6° and a sliding angle of smaller than 1°. And the SSF can also be self-cleaned in the wind. The SSF hierarchical structure scatters the incident light, but it almost doesn't attenuate the light. So the SSF has antireflection properties and a high light transmittance of 94%. The excellent self-cleaning property, high light transmittance and antireflection property mean that the SSF greatly enhances the performance of solar cells in practical working conditions. The solar cell's efficiency maintains at 95.8% of its initial value after covering with the SSF, which is about 1.7 times higher than that of the solar cell covered with dust, as in practical conditions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. qinyong @lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. qinyong @lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. qinyong @lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaofei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. qinyong @lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. qinyong @lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Suo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. qinyong @lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zenghua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. qinyong @lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Leixing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. qinyong @lzu.edu.cn and The Research Institute of Biomedical Nanotechnology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qin