El Mostapha Lotfi

Physical and chemical analysis of outdoor dust deposited on photovoltaic panels installed in Rabat

In this paper, several physical and chemical analyses have been performed to determine the composition of the dust naturally deposited on photovoltaic panels installed in our RDI Solar Energy Platform in Rabat. The mineralogical composition was determined by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis (XF). Additional characterization has also been performed by Thermal Analysis and Infrared Spectroscopy (IR). XF results show that silica, alumina, iron oxide, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide and potassium oxide are the most abundant elements in the dust. Mineralogical analysis shows that this dust also contains quartz, calcite, kaolin and dolomite. The paper presents also the effect of dust layer thickness on the optical transmittance of Petri dish glass and photo-optical effects and modifications of various materials in the dust on the solar panels.