Spectral transmittance of di-methyl silicon oil as a heat transfer material for concentrator solar cells.

The accelerated life test was carried out to investigate the change of spectral transmittance of di-methyl silicon oil and the effects on the electrical performance of silicon solar cell. The di-methyl silicon oil samples before and after accelerated life test were analyzed by FT-IR, GC-MS and LC-MS. The ring compounds and linear compounds with larger molecular weight were detected. The spectral transmittance of di-methyl silicon oil decreased because the chromophore and auxochrome of the products made a sunlight receive decrease on the surface of the solar cell, and resulted in the reduction of cell performance. According to the decrease of spectral transmittance of di-methyl silicon oil, two recovery methods were proposed. The results showed that extraction was superior to vacuum distillation in recovering the aged di-methyl silicon oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]