Characterization of an industrial plasma process to treat fluoropolymers and polyethylene terephthalate for the solar energy industry

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The green gas reduction strategies put forward by many countries all over the world recently led to the**signatures of major treaties, such as the Paris agreement. Basically, these agreements focus on the two main**vectors that may drastically lead to a decrease in CO2 production. On one hand, much efforts are directed to**minimizing energy consumption while, on the other hand, more environmentally friendly energy production**facilities are developed. It is in this context that Saint-Gobain Canada Inc. developed a polymer thin film to be**applied on the surface of house and building windows. Essentially, this technology takes advantage of**polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which highly absorbs UV light. Once installed on windows, this polymer**film captures heat and directs it back into the room, thus improving overall comfort during cooler months,**while lowering energy use and helping to save energy. In warmer months, it reflects solar heat away from**windows, reducing the need and cost for interior cooling. However, as most polymers, PET is not particularly a**good candidate when comes the time to make laminates out of it or to print inks of all kinds on it, because of its**low surface energy. Saint-Gobain also seeks to develop materials that will enable buildind-up efficient**photovoltaic devices to maximize the yield of solar energy conversion.The strategy will take advantage of the**low absorptivity of fluorinated polymers throughout the whole UV and visible spectral range. Once applied on**top of photovoltaic devices, thin films made of fluorinated polymers enable to protect the silicon-based devices**against environmental conditions while minimizing the light energy loss through the polymer films. This limits**the loss of solar energy production caused by the necessary device protection. Unfortunately, the use of**fluorinated polymers for the targeted application is limited by their poor adhesiveness when comes the time to**glue them to any devices. Accordingly, the objective of this project will be to characterize an industrial plasma**process to modify the surface of PET and fluoropolymers, therefore enabling assembling them with any other**materials.