Highly efficient broadband solar thermal absorber for domestic renewable energy solutions

Abstract

With the invention of the photonics techniques, a new structural design for thermal energy absorber is designed which uses the multilayer structure to absorb the solar energy and this solar energy is converted to thermal energy which is possible to be utilized in industrial heating applications. The use of solar energy makes it a sustainable option to meet the high growing industrial output energy. Materials like Titanium (Ti), Titanium Carbide (TiC), Silicon (Si) are used for this purpose. The use of these materials makes it more cost-friendly compared to the other similar options. The higher absorption rate is achieved by optimizing the design layers. The flowchart for the optimization in materials as well as design is also shown in this research. The optimization makes the design more compact and handy for industrial use. The advantage of these designs over the other designs is the choice of materials as well as their compact size. The results are also analyzed for the wide angle of incidence and polarization. All the results obtained show that the design is highly efficient in the solar spectral range and can be a renewable energy option for industrial and domestic heating applications.