Solar photothermal self-deicing composite films based on fluorinated polyimide and phosphorene nanoflakes for passive anti-icing of photovoltaic panels

The snow and ice coverage greatly deteriorates the power output of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells due to sunlight obstruction and thus makes a great impact on their electricity generation. To address this problem, we design a type of passive self-deicing composite films based on colorless fluorinated polyimide as a polymeric matrix and phosphorene (PR) nanoflakes as a light absorber for the photothermal deicing of PV panels driven by solar energy. The composite films were successfully fabricated through in situ polycondensation, followed by temperature-programmed thermal imidization. The resultant composite films exhibit a colorless transparent feature along with high transmittance and high absorptivity. The presence of PR nanoflakes enhances the absorption of solar light and conversion of photothermal energy by the composite films, resulting in good photothermal self-deicing effectiveness for solar PV panels. There is an accelerated melting process occurring in the ice covering on the surface of the composite films under solar illumination. The composite film containing 2.0 wt % PR nanoflakes exhibits an optimal photothermal self-deicing performance under a high photothermal conversion efficiency of 92.9 %. The use of this composite film can promote a rapid recovery of the output voltage to an ideal value for the snow- or ice-covered PV panels through fast photothermal self-deicing. This study provides a novel approach for the development of passive self-deicing materials to enhance the power output and electricity generation efficiency of solar PV panels in the snowy and icy weather.