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

最近，世界上许多国家提出的绿色气体减排战略导致了 签署重要条约，如《巴黎协定》。基本上，这些协议集中在两个主要方面 可能会导致二氧化碳产量大幅下降的媒介。一方面，很多努力都指向 一方面，最大限度地减少能源消耗，另一方面，更环保地生产能源 设施齐全。正是在这种背景下，圣戈班加拿大公司开发了一种聚合物薄膜，以 适用于房屋和建筑窗户的表面。本质上，这项技术利用了 聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯(PET)，可高度吸收紫外线。一旦安装在窗户上，这种聚合物 胶片捕捉热量并将其引导回房间，从而在较凉爽的月份改善整体舒适性， 同时降低能源消耗，有助于节约能源。在较温暖的月份，它将太阳热量反射离开 窗户，减少室内冷却的需要和成本。然而，像大多数聚合物一样，PET并不是一种特别的 当需要用它来制作层压板或在上面印刷各种油墨时，它是一个很好的候选者，因为它 低表面能。圣戈班还寻求开发能够实现高效堆积的材料 光伏设备，以最大限度地提高太阳能转换的产量。该战略将利用 含氟聚合物在整个紫外和可见光光谱范围内的低吸收率。一旦应用于 在光伏设备的顶部，由氟化聚合物制成的薄膜能够保护硅基设备 抗环境条件，同时将通过聚合物薄膜的光能损失降至最低。这限制了 造成太阳能生产损失的必要设备保护。不幸的是，使用 用于目标应用的氟化聚合物因其较差的粘附性而受到限制 将它们粘合到任何设备上。因此，这个项目的目标将是描述一种工业等离子体 对聚酯和含氟聚合物的表面进行改性的工艺，从而使它们能够与任何其他聚合物组装 材料。

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.