The Effect of Annealing under Non-vacuum on the Optical Properties of TiAlN Non-vacuum Solar Selective Absorbing Coating Prepared by Cathodic Arc Evaporation

TiAIN solar selective absorbing coatings which were deposited on 304L stainless steel using cathodic arc evaporation method were annealed under non-vacuum at different temperatures with different times. The optical properties （absorptance and emittance） of the coatings were measured by a spectrophotometer. It was found that, after being annealed for 2 hours at different temperatures, the absorptance of the coatings reached the highest value of 0.92 at 700 ℃ while the emittance got the lowest value of 0.38 at 800 ℃. When the coatings were annealed at 600 ℃ for 24 hours, the optical properties changed to 0.92/0.44 （absorptance/ emittance）. By measuring the structure, morphology, elements and surface roughness of the coatings, it was found that both the elemental composition and the surface roughness of the coatings changed as a result of annealing, and these changes caused the change of the optical properties of the coatings.

Thermal Stability and Degeneration Behavior of Solar Selective Absorber Based on WTi-Al_(2)O_(3)Cermet

A WTi-Al_(2)O_(3)cermet-based solar selective absorber was prepared to investigate the atomic diffusion induced spectral selectivity degeneration.The as-deposited coating exhibits superior absorptance(0.934)and low thermal emittance(0.098),as well as excellent thermal stability with a selectivity of 0.900/0.07 even after annealing at 923 K for 400 h in Ar ambient.However,the multilayer coating failed after being subjected to annealing at 923 K for 400 h in an air environment,as indicated by a decrease in solar absorptance to 0.912 and an increase in thermal emittance to 0.634.The microstructure characterizations reveal that the annealed coating exhibits a columnar morphology along the vertical direction of the substrate.The presence of abundant grain boundaries in the multilayer coating promotes the outward diffusion of Cr and Mn atoms in the stainless-steel substrate.The Mn atoms,in particular,possess the capability to migrate towards the surface of the coating and undergo an oxidation reaction with oxygen,facilitating the formation of a thick Mn_(2)O_(3)layer.The roughness of the coating surface was significantly increased in this case,adversely affecting solar absorptance due to amplified sunlight reflection.In addition,the rocketing of thermal emittance is attributed to the destabilization of W infrared reflective layer during the annealing.These findings highlight the importance of considering the outward diffusion of Mn and Cr elements in the stainless-steel substrate when optimizing solar selective absorbers.

A review of high-temperature selective absorbing coatings for solar thermal applications

Solar selective absorbing coatings directly harvest solar energy in the form of heat.The higher temperatures are required to drive higher power-cycle efficiencies in favor of lower costs of energy.According to different dielectrics,high temperature coatings can mainly be divided to double cermet solar selective coatings,transition metal nitride multilayer coatings and transition metal oxide multilayer coatings.This paper assesses the photothermal conversion efficiency and thermal stability,and discusses the challenges and strategies of improving both thermal and optical properties.Double cermet layers can stabilize nanocrystalline structures by alloying,while transition metal nitride/oxide layers generally choose the reliable materials with superior mechanical properties and thermal stability.The purpose of this review is to get the optimized systems,and propose further research directions at higher temperature,such as all-ceramic absorbing coatings.

Preparation and optical properties of Nb-NbN multilayer films as solar selective absorptive coatings

Based on the cermet double layer structure, Nb-NbN multi-layer films for solar selective coatings were deposited by direct current reactive magnetron sputtering. The Nb/Nb-NbN/Al2O3 trilayered structure was deposited on a stainless steel (SS) substrate by using a single niobium target. The expected components were adjusted by changing the gas flowing ratios of Ar: N2. The Al2O3 antireflective layer on the top of the film was produced by r. f. magnetron sputtering using Al2O3 ceramic target. A solar absorptivity of 0.94 and a normal emissivity of 0.16 at room temperature have been achieved for the coating. Thermal vacuum aging to the samples was carried out at 350 and 500 ℃ for 1 h. The results show a good thermal stability. Microstructure and its dependence on temperature of the Nb, NbN and Nb-NbN single layers were investigated, respectively.

Optical Design and Preparation of High Performance Mo/NiAlN/NiAlON/SiO_2 Solar Selective Absorbing Coating

A new solar selective absorbing coating of Mo/NiAlN/NiAlON/SiO_2 multilayer was prepared on stainless steel(SS) substrates by magnetron sputtering for solar thermal power applications. The optical constants and thickness of individual layers were simulated using the Scout software based on the experimentally measured reflectance and transmittance spectra of individual layers. The coating of Mo/NiAlN/NiAlON/SiO_2 with an ideal solar absorptance(α) of 0.945 in the solar spectrum range was designed via the optical constants of each layer in the Scout software. The Mo/NiAlN/NiAlON/SiO_2 coating was deposited via the optimized layer thickness. A good spectral selectivity with absorptance(α=0.936) and emittance(ε=0.09, T=80 ℃) was obtained. This method, which incorporates the optical simulation with the related experiments, provides a convenient approach to obtain the ideal solar selective absorbing coatings.

Improvement of thermal stability of ZrSiON based solar selective absorbing coating

Solar selective absorbing coatings(SSACs)are required to have not only excellent optical property but also outstanding thermal stability for high temperature applications.The optical properties of Mo/ZrSiN/ZrSiON/SiO_(2) SSAC had been optimized successfully before.Herein,we are focusing on the evaluation and mechanism of thermal stability of this multilayer coating for its potential applications in concentrated solar power(CSP)systems.Fortunately,the coating exhibits excellent thermal stability after aging at 400℃ for 1500 h in vacuum.At aging temperature of 500℃ for 1000 h or 600℃ for 300 h in vacuum,the slight inter-diffusion between Mo layer and stainless steel(SS)substrate occurs.At higher aging temperature of 700℃ for 100 h in vacuum,the serious inter-diffusion between Mo layer and SS substrate leads to invalidation of the coating,which has been evidenced by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry(RBS)and X-ray diffraction(XRD)technologies.Additionally,this coating also has an outstanding thermal stability after aging at 400℃for 300 h in air.A heating-cooling cycling(HCC)treatment evidences the good thermal stability of this coating working in cold environment(60℃).The results reveal that this coating can be a promising candidate not only for CSP system in high temperatures but also for usage in cold environment.

Solar Collectors of Buildings Facade Based on Aluminum Heat Pipes with Colored Coating

A variety of liquid thermal solar collectors designs used for water heating have been developed by the previous researchers. But the majority of them do not meet the requirements on small weight, easy assembling and installing, versatility, scalability and adaptability of the design, which are particularly important when they are facade integrated. In order to avoid the above mentioned drawbacks of the liquid thermal collectors, the authors propose to apply to them extruded aluminum alloy made heat pipes of originally designed cross-sectional profile with wide fins and longitudinal grooves. Such solar collectors could be a good solution for building facade and roof integration, because they are assembled of several standard and independent, hermetically sealed and light-weight modules, easy mounted and ＂dry＂ connected to the main pipeline. At that, their thermal performances are not worse than of the other known ones made of heavier and more expensive copper with higher thermal conductance, or having entire rigid designs. Some variants of the developed solar collectors shaping of the assembled modules for building facade or roof integration are proposed. Variously colored coatings to the absorbers are developed and made of carbon-siliceous nano-composites by means of sol-gel method. Their optical performances were compared with ＂anodized black＂. It is stated that colored coatings have a good prospect in thermal SCs （solar collectors） adaptation to building facades decoration, but the works on study and upgrade of their performances should be continued.

Thickness Dependence of Structural and Optical Properties of Chromium Thin Films as an Infrared Reflector for Solar-thermal Conversion Applications

The thermal emittance of Cr film, as an IR reflector, was investigated for the use in SSAC. The Cr thin films with different thicknesses were deposited on silicon wafers, optical quartz and stainless steel substrates by cathodic arc ion plating technology as a metallic IR reflector layer in SSAC. The thickness of Cr thin films was optimized to achieve the minimum thermal emittance. The effects of structural, microstructural, optical, surface and cross-sectional morphological properties of Cr thin films were investigated on the emittance. An optimal thickness about 450 nm of the Cr thin film for the lowest total thermal emittance of 0.05 was obtained. The experimental results suggested that the Cr metallic thin film with optimal thickness could be used as an effective infrared reflector for the development of SSAC structure.

Preparation of solar selective absorbing CuO coating for medium temperature application

A new method of preparing CuO solar selective absorbing coating for medium temperature is presented.After pretreatment,brass was overlaid with CuO by chemical plating.The effects of reactant concentration,reaction tem-perature and reaction time on the absorptivity of CuO coating were investigated.The optimized condition of preparing CuO coating was obtained.The CuO coating was analyzed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)and scanning electron microscopy(SEM).In order to prolong the period of use,the CuO coating was protected by TiO2.The experi-ment shows that the TiO2/CuO coating is more heat-resistant,acid-resistant,and wear resistant than CuO coating,without losing absorptivity markedly.The TiO2 coating can reduce emissivity and protect the CuO coating.

Synthesis and Characterization of Copper-Zinc-Tin-Sulfide(CZTS)Thin Film Absorber Layer for Solar Cell Application

Copper zinc tin sulfide(CZTS)thin film was synthesized on soda lime glass substrate by using spin coating method.The synthesized CZTS thin film showed maximum absorption coefficient of 0.193×104 cm-1 and maximum extinction coefficient of 0.011.The direct optical band gap,Urbach energy and steepness parameter of the synthesized CZTS thin film were 1.52 eV,0.52 eV and 0.05 respectively.The CZTS thin film was found to be polycrystalline tetragonal in nature.The scanning electron microscopy(SEM)revealed that the texture structure was formed for the CZTS thin film.

Thermodynamic analysis on medium-high temperature solar thermal systems with selective coatings

Thermodynamics analysis was carried out for solar thermal receivers with different selective coatings.The relation between the energy conversion efficiency of a medium-high temperature solar thermal system,the spectral properties of selective coating and the operating temperature of the receiver were discussed.Furthermore,the relation between the optimum operating temperatures,the exergy efficiencies and the incident solar flux were analyzed for the traditional concentrating system and concentrating beam splitting system,respectively.According to the analysis results for the thermal receiver with blackbody surface and selective coatings,the optimum cutoff wavelength was obtained for the ideal selective coating.An analysis method for the optimum operating temperature calculation was developed for thermal receivers with selective coating.The optimum operating temperature for an actual selective coating was analyzed on the basis of the proposed theory.

Greatly enhanced solar absorption via high entropy ceramic AlCrTaTiZrN based solar selective absorber coatings

High entropy alloys(HEAs),which is at the expense of high cost compared to traditional alloy,should not be confined to the mechanical properties,but should be employed to devise a novel combination with unique functional and mechanical performances.In this work,high entropy alloy nitride(HEAN)is utilized as a novel double absorption layer to improve solar absorption in the high temperature solar selective absorbing coatings(SSACs).Our primary motivation is to lower thermal emittance(ε)and enhance solar absorptance(a).In order to realize this goal,coating design(CODE)software is employed to design and optimize the proposed HEAN based SSACs using appropriate dielectric function model.The ultimate as-deposited coating shows good optical properties with a high a value of 0.965 and a lowεvalue of 0.086(at 82C).The estimate of thermal stability tests indicates that HEAN based SSACs has the ability to resist instability in high working temperature,which keeps good optical properties(a¼0.925,ε¼0.070)after annealing at 600C for 10 h.

The Impact of Annealing Temperature on the Optical Performance of Cr-Cr_2O_3 Produced by Plasma Spraying as Solar Energy Selective Absorber Coating

A series of selective solar absorber coatings of Cr-Cr2O3 were deposited in different content on stainless steel by plasma spraying.The samples were annealed at different temperatures.The optical performance(both the solar absorptance and the thermal emittance)were studied by spectrophotometry.The surface morphology,the structure and the surface roughness were investigated by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),X-ray diffraction(XRD),and roughmeter respectively.The results show that,as the content of Cr increased,the solar absorptance(α)decreased greatly,from 0.91 to 0.84.Meanwhile,the thermal emittance(ε) decreased more greatly,from 0.86 to about 0.64.The ratio between the solar absorptance and the thermal emittance increased from 1.06 to 1.31.Annealing had a great impact on the optical performance.Annealing temperature is an important element.But its influence was a little complex.To pure Cr coating,annealing at 500℃ was a perfect chosen,where the ratio between the solar absorptance and the thermal emittance was highest of 1.46.

Selective Absorber Coatings and Technological Advancements in Performance Enhancement for Parabolic Trough Solar Collector

Parabolic trough solar collector systems are the most advanced concentrating solar power technology for large-scale power generation purposes. The current work reviews various selective coating materials and their characteristics for different designs in concentrating solar power. Solar selective absorbing coatings collect solar radiation and convert it to heat. To promote higher efficiency and lower energy costs at higher temperatures requires, this study aims to analyse the fundamental chemistry and thermal stability of some key coatings currently being used and even under investigation to find reasons for differences, information gaps and potential for improvement in results. In recent years, several novel and useful solar absorber coatings have been developed. However, qualification test methods such as corrosion resistance, thermal stability testing and prediction of service life, which have essential technical value for large-scale solar absorbers, are lacking. Coatings are used to enhance the performance of reflectors and absorbers in terms of quality, efficiency, maintenance and cost. Differentiated coatings are required as there are no uniformly perfect materials in various applications, working conditions and material variations. Much more knowledge of the physical and chemical properties and durability of the coatings is required, which will help prevent failures that could not be discovered previously.

A novel multilayer high temperature solar absorber coating based on high-entropy alloy NbMoTaW:Optical properties, thermal stability and corrosion properties

With the development of new materials and technology,high entropy alloy(HEA)nitride films have attracted much attention of researchers due to their excellent optical properties and mechanical properties.Herein,a novel SS/NbMoTaWN(HEAN)/NbMoTaWON(HEAON)/SiO_(2) coatings are prepared,which shows a high spectral selectivity of a/ε=0.944/0.12.The preparation and optimization of the coating are studied by combining experiments with ellipsometric program and CODE software.High temperature thermal stability test is performed in depth,which proves that the coating could bear 400℃ in air for 2 h,and 600℃for 2 h in vacuum.Long-term thermal stability researches indicate that the SSACs still keep good optical properties(a=0.902,ε=0.106)even after annealing at 600℃ for 100 h.The failure mechanism is analyzed by XRD and Raman spectra.In addition,neutral salt spray test is performed to investigate the anti-corrosion ability,which indicates the coating has a good optical performance after soaking in 3.5 wt%NaCl solution for 30 days.Obviously,this work provides a new strategy to construct solar absorber coatings based on NbMoTaW high entropy alloy.

全玻璃真空太阳集热管关键技术参数研究进展

全玻璃真空太阳集热管是太阳能热利用系统的重要组成部分,其性能参数的优劣直接影响到太阳能热利用系统的热性能、耐久可靠性和节能效果。文章从真空管基本结构和工作原理的介绍出发,对影响真空管性能的光学性能、热性能等关键技术参数及玻璃管材料、真空性能等其他技术要求的研究进展做了详细分析,并在长期从事科研和检测工作的基础上,给出了提升真空管的产品性能可从玻璃管生产优化、新涂层开发、真空性能加强、技术创新、先进设备开发、标准修订等方面的建议。

Perfect solar absorber based on nanocone structured surface for high-efficiency solar thermoelectric generators

Nanostructured surface is a promising photon management strategy to tune spectrum in design of the selective solar absorber.In this paper,we propose a nanocone structured surface as a perfect solar absorber in application of the solar thermoelectric generators(STEGs).The trade-off between the solar absorption and the mid-infrared emission is obtained to maximize the STEG efficiency.The effects of the geometric parameters,thermal concentration,incident angle and polarized state as well as the lattice arrangement are systematically investigated.The results show that the STEGs equipped with our proposed selective solar absorber can achieve a peak efficiency of 6.53%under AM1.5G condition(no optical concentration).Furthermore,the selective solar absorber exhibits insensitive behavior to the incident angle and polarization angle as well.This means that the proposed selective solar absorber can utilize solar energy as much as possible and be generally suitable in equipping the STEGs without optical concentration.

塔式太阳能吸热器曲面涂层吸收率测试方法研究

吸热器涂层吸收率的准确测量对吸热器性能评估、优化具有重要意义。目前吸热器涂层吸收率的实验研究大多局限于平面金属基材。以塔式太阳能熔盐吸热器圆柱形吸热管为研究对象,提出蓝丁胶法和漫反射盒法2种广泛适用的测量曲面涂层吸收率测试方法。蓝丁胶法器材准备简单,操作复杂;漫反射盒法器材准备复杂,操作简单。2种方法在测量过程中隔绝环境光线干扰,得到各种涂层附着于平板和圆管表面的测量吸收率,通过不同涂层在平板和圆管上的吸收率对应关系建立拟合曲线,从而修正测量数据得到吸热管涂层吸收率,拟合曲线精确性R^(2)≥0.995;不遮光条件下直接测量2.5cm直径吸热管吸收率,最大相对误差为13.39%,使用蓝丁胶法和漫反射盒法后相对误差分别降为0.27%和0.45%,2种方法各点结果相对误差之差小于0.30%,测量过程中涂层吸收率越大,各因素对测量结果影响越小;在蓝丁胶测试方法中,吸热管直径越大,测得的吸收率越小。

原位氧化FeNiMnAlCrC高熵合金的光热转换性能

本文采用经济的原位氧化和选择性刻蚀工艺,通过调控氧化温度和表面粗糙度,研究了Fe_(40)Ni_(11)Mn_(35)Al_(7)Cr_(6)C_(1)(摩尔分数,%)高熵合金表面的氧化产物变化及其对太阳能光热转换性能的影响。结果表明:在500~700℃范围内,随着温度升高和刻蚀引起的初始表面粗糙度的增大,氧化后高熵合金表面的氧化物尺寸、氧化层厚度、粗糙度和氧化物种类均呈上升趋势,使得光热转换性能逐渐提升。预先刻蚀并经700℃氧化2 h后,合金的太阳能吸收率和光热转换效率分别达到峰值90.4%和87.9%。当氧化温度继续升高至800℃后,由于热膨胀系数不匹配导致热应力增大,合金表面生成的氧化层均开始大面积脱落,进而导致材料的光热性能开始下降。本研究为金属氧化层的有效设计提供了理论支持,有助于实现高熵合金光热性能的优化与提升。