Compact size Zr–Fe2O3 inspired metal-dielectric angle and polarization insensitive nanostructure for efficient solar energy absorption

Abstract

We exhibit the perfect solar design by using Ferric Oxide (Fe2O3) as the substrate layer, and the Zirconium (Zr) material based resonator. The overall solar absorption is 95.79% and the solar absorption are obtained for the ultraviolet (UV), visible (V), near-infrared (NIR), and mid-infrared (MIR) regions respectively between the wavelength ranges 0.2 μm and 3 μm. Subsequently, the absorption is above 95% for the 2800 nm bandwidth, and in the 1040 nm bandwidth, the absorption is above 97%, and above 99% for the bandwidth of 500 nm. Moreover, the variation of the solar absorption rates by changing the parameters of resonator thickness, substrate layer thickness, and resonator width of the developed design is explored in detail to attain the optimal structure. And then, the analysis of the absorption rates in TE and TM modes with the incidence angle degrees from 0 to 80 verified the absorber's performance attributes. In the end, the electric field intensity situation of the proposed design is demonstrated to validate the performance of the proposed absorber. The proposed solar absorber can be employed as it can convert solar radiation into heat completely and can be used for various solar thermal applications such as solar thermal photovoltaics, solar generators, and solar power plants.