hydrophobic Materials important for Solar panel cleaning

Solar Panels need to be washed and cooled.

When panels get dirty and there efficiency drops. Keeping them clean is important.

As they heat up there efficiency drops too.

Many are looking in to hydrophobic chemical coatings that repel water and allow a slight spray of water to remove all dirt easily.   It also can be used cool the panels also.

My concern is evaporation looses could be huge on a large scale.

Alternative Energy Projects Stumble on a Need for Water
A German developer, Solar Millennium, announced plans to build two large solar farms here that would harness the sun to generate electricity, creating hundreds of jobs. But then things got messy. The company revealed that its preferred method of cooling the power plants would consume 1.3 billion gallons of water a year, about 20 percent of this desert valley’s available water.

Below are some of my rough notes on hydrophobic materials

Best bet's for glass coatings.

https://www.inventables.com/technologies/permanent-hydrophobic-nanocoating
http://www.diamonfusion.com/en/default.aspx
US patent 6,245,387 Capped silicone film and method of manufacture thereof

http://www.aculon.com/application.html?gclid=CJqj_ofo5Z0CFSUMDQodXSXeOw


Other coatings of interest.

Scotchgard

perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA),
Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid C₈HF₁₇O₃S (PFOS), Now banned.   Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in May 2009

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) PFOA,  Now banned.

perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS)    3M reformulated Scotchgard and since June 2003 has replaced PFOS with PFBS.

www.rainx.com  silicone-based

Aquapel not a silicone-based compound PPG Industries

Golden-Shellback

Langmuir
http://www.news.pitt.edu/m/FMPro?-db=ma&-lay=a&-format=d.html&id=3886&-Find
http://www.pitt.edu/news2009/DiGao.pdf

General listing for suppliers.
http://www.thomasnet.com/products/hydrophobic-coatings-95918512-1.html