PRODUCT BRIEF

Repellency and Durability in NanoGuard® Coating

Repellency and durability are often seen as conflicting properties in a single material. Highly repellent surfaces tend to be fragile, making them susceptible to erosion and poor weather resistance. The innovative breakthrough of NanoGuard® lies in its ability to combine these properties. It achieves this by embedding water-repellent functional groups alongside active functional groups on nano-structured particles. These particles bond firmly to the resin matrix, anchoring silica nano-particles within the resin to create a tough, durable, and transparent coating.

The nano-particles are smaller than the wavelength of visible light, ensuring no light scattering and providing exceptional transparency. NanoGuard® utilizes cutting-edge materials that can be produced on a large scale using standard manufacturing techniques. Its key features include:

  • Multi-functional Silica Nano-particles: Embedded in a siloxane matrix, these particles offer a unique balance of repellency and durability, enabling long-lasting, low-maintenance solar PV protection.

  • High Transparency Nano-structure: Enhances energy efficiency by up to 4% and improves aesthetic appeal for architectural applications.

  • Safe and Scalable Silica Chemistry: Non-hazardous materials enable environmentally friendly production at industrial scales.

The Ultimate PV Protection

Repellent surfaces have a very low surface energy or anti-stick character which prevents water, dust and dirt from attaching themselves to the surface.

Any debris that settles on a Solar Panel will be blown away by the wind or carried away by water droplets which are strongly repelled from the surface. The origin of Solar Sharc® technology was research work carried on functionalised silica macro-molecules to improve the hardness of polymer coatings.

The significant breakthrough came with the ability to functionalise silica nano-particles (30-500 nm) rather than macro-molecules. Nano-particles enable both tailored roughness and multi-functionalisation to achieve the required combination of high water repellency, durability and transparency to give you the ultimate PV Protection .


Easy Clean & Anti Soiling

A novel advanced easy clean coating.


Hydrophobic

Highly repellent – > 110° contact angle.



Anti Reflective

Enables the transmittance of more light than uncoated glass.


Resistant To High Temperatures

Stable to temperatures in excess of 150˚C.


Optimizes PV Efficiency

Prevents soiling, optimizes PV efficiency.


One Coat - Up To 20 Years Protection

Extreme durability.