Acetic acid production and glass transition concerns with ethylene-vinyl acetate used in photovoltaic devices

摘要: Abstract Photovoltaic (PV) devices are typically encapsulated using ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) to provide mechanical support, electrical isolation, and protection against environmental exposure. Under exposure water and/or ultraviolet radiation, EVA will decompose produce acetic acid that lower the pH generally increases surface corrosion rates. This enhanced is demonstrated in this work aluminum mirrors deposited on glass. also experiences a glass transition, beginning at about −15 °C, making its use questionable environments below −15 °C. Despite these shortcomings, has proven be adequate (in terrestrial environments) for encapsulating silicon wafers based PV devices. Thin-film technologies, however, constructed layers only few microns thick, them potentially much more sensitive than silicon-wafer-based technologies.