Solar Panel Painted Black

Most experts agree that a solar technology has to surpass 10 efficiency to be viable.

Solar panel painted black.

The pipes are filled with a heat transfer fluid such as water or oil. The pipes and the box are usually painted black because black absorbs more heat than other colors. Most absorbers are panted with flat black paint but some arguments have been made for glossy paint being a better choice see this solar heat thread for the details. If they are pv panels or heat pipe panels they are not painted at all paint would stop them working.

There has been an interesting discussion going on for the past few days in the yahoo solar heat group about the best type of black paint to paint a solar collector absorber with. Solar paint is certainly less expensive than solar panels in terms of both production and installation but the low efficiency means that it s not quite ready to be. The silicon used to make monocrystalline solar cells has a high level of purity. Why are the solar panels usually painted black.

Unlike traditional solar panels it s extremely easy to scale solar paint using the same spray gun you can just spray a smaller or larger area. Because of the way light interacts with a monocrystalline silicon layer monocrystalline solar panels appear black in color. Only a simple hot water radiator panel would. The silicon is all oriented the same way in a monocrystalline solar cell creating one large silicon crystal.

Solar panels for heat are usually made from a box with a clear window on top. For comparison sake traditional silicon solar panels operate at around 18 efficiency.