Abstract
Enhancing the operating temperature of concentrating solar power systems is a promising way to obtain higher system efficiency and thus enhance their competitiveness. One major barrier is the unavailability of suitable solar absorber materials for operation at higher temperatures. In this work, we report on a new high-temperature absorber material by combining Ti2AlC MAX phase material and iron–cobalt–chromite spinel coating/paint. This durable material solution exhibits excellent performance, passing the thermal stability test in an open-air environment at a temperature of 1250 °C for 400 h and at 1300 °C for 200 h. The results show that the black spinel coating can offer a stable high solar absorptivity in the range of 0.877–0.894 throughout the 600 h test under high temperatures. These solar absorptivity values are even 1.6–3.3% higher than that for the sintered SiC ceramic that is a widely used solar absorber material. Divergence of solar absorptivity during these relatively long testing periods is less than 1.1%, indicating remarkable stability of the absorber material. Furthermore, considering the simple application process of the coating/painting utilizing a brush followed by curing at relatively low temperatures (room temperature, 95 and 260 °C in sequence), this absorber material shows the potential for large-scale, high-temperature solar thermal applications.
Highlights
The full spectrum of the solar radiation can be efficiently used in Concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies to convert into heat that can be used for industrial processes, water desalination, electricity generation via power cycles, and sustainable fuel production through thermochemical reactions.[3−5] According to the second law of thermodynamics, increasing the working temperature of the power cycles is an important way forward for obtaining higher system efficiency and enhancing competitiveness of the CSP technologies in the future energy market
Www.acsami.org reach the range of 0.877−0.894 with high stability during the total 600 h extremely high temperature tests carried out during this study. These solar absorptivity values are even higher than the silica carbide (SiC) ceramic material that is widely used as the absorber material in the traditional high-temperature solar receiver/ reactor designs
No significant cracking, flaking, or surface color change could be observed upon prolonged exposure to atmospheric conditions at these high temperatures and the HiE-Coat 840-MX (HiE) coating can be painted directly on the sandblasted Ti2AlC MAX material surface without further surface oxidization treatment
Summary
Concentrating solar power (CSP) technology is one of the most promising pathways for a future fossil-fuel-free society because of the bountiful resource and its capability in providing electric baseload power upon integration with large-scale thermal storage facilities.[1,2] Unlike photovoltaic technologies, the full spectrum of the solar radiation can be efficiently used in CSP technologies to convert into heat that can be used for industrial processes, water desalination, electricity generation via power cycles, and sustainable fuel production through thermochemical reactions.[3−5] According to the second law of thermodynamics, increasing the working temperature of the power cycles is an important way forward for obtaining higher system efficiency and enhancing competitiveness of the CSP technologies in the future energy market. New material solutions that can combine the advantages of both metallic and ceramic materials to avoid either shortcomings will pave the way for wider application of CSP systems for fossil-free power generation One such attractive candidate is MAX phase materials, which are a class of ternary nanolayered early transition-metal carbides and nitrides. We present a durable material solution, by combining commercial Ti2AlC MAX phase material and iron− cobalt−chromite spinel-based coating/painting, for future high-temperature CSP applications. Reach the range of 0.877−0.894 with high stability during the total 600 h extremely high temperature tests carried out during this study These solar absorptivity values are even higher than the SiC ceramic material that is widely used as the absorber material in the traditional high-temperature solar receiver/ reactor designs. This work opens a door to a new solar absorber material family for high-temperature CSP applications
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