Membrane Journal (멤브레인)

The Membrane Society of Korea (한국막학회)
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Low-costBacksheet Materials with Excellent Resistance to Chemical Degradation for Photovoltaic Modules

태양전지모듈용 고내구성 저가형 백시트

  • 표세연 (단국대학교 에너지공학과) ;
  • 이창현 (단국대학교 에너지공학과)
  • Received : 2015.06.02
  • Accepted : 2015.06.24
  • Published : 2015.06.30
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Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) modules are environmentally friendly energy-conversion devices to generate electricity via the photovoltaic effect of semiconductors on solar energy. One of key elements in PV modules is "Backsheet," a multi-layered film to protect the devices from a variety of chemicals including water vapor. A representative Backsheet is composed of polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). PVF is relatively expensive, while showing excellent resistance to chemical attacks. Thus, it is necessary to develop alternatives which can lower its high production cost and guarantee lifetime applicable to practical PV modules at the same time. In this study, PET films with certain levels of crystallinity were utilized instead of PVF. Since it is well known that PET is suffering from trans-esterification and hydrolysis under a wide pH range, it is needed to understand decomposition behavior of the PET films under PV operation conditions. To evaluate their chemical decomposition behavior within a short period of times, accelerated decomposition test protocol is developed. Moreover, electrochemical long-term performances of the PV module employing the PET-based Backsheet are investigated to prove the efficacy of the proposed concept.

태양전지는 태양복사에너지를 반도체의 광전효과를 통해 전기에너지로 변환시키는 친환경 에너지변환장치를 의미한다. 수분을 포함하는 다양한 화학물질들에 대한 높은 차단성을 갖는 다층형 필름인 백시트는 태양전지의 중요한 요소이다. 대표적인 백시트는 polyvinyl fluoride (PVF)와 poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)의 다층필름으로 구성된다. PVF는 높은 내후성을 가지는 반면, 가격이 상대적으로 비싼 단점을 보인다. 따라서, 백시트의 제조가격을 낮출 수 있으면서, 동시에 실제 태양전지모듈에 적용할만한 수명특성을 만족시킬 수 있는 대체소재의 개발이 필수적이다. 본 연구에서는 일정수준의 결정성을 갖는 PET 필름을 PVF 필름 대신 사용하였다. 그러나, PET 소재는 다양한 pH 조건에서 trans-esterification 및 가수분해에 의해 분해될 수 있기 때문에, 태양전지의 구동조건에서 PET의 분해거동을 이해할 필요가 있다. 단시간 내 화학적 분해거동을 평가하기 위해서, 가속화된 PET 분해실험 프로토콜이 개발되었다. 마지막으로, 제안 개념의 효용성은 태양전지모듈의 장기운전성능 평가를 통해 확인하였다.

Keywords

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