Abstract
Solar selective absorbing coatings (SSAC) harvest solar energy in the form of thermal energy. Traditional metal-rich SSACs like cermet-based coatings and semiconductor–metal tandems usually exhibit both a high solar absorptance and a low thermal emittance; however, metal nanoparticles can easily oxidize or diffuse at high temperature. Different from these SSACs, the all-ceramic SSACs can keep the superior optical performance at high temperatures by restraining oxidation and metal element diffusion. Besides, the facile and inexpensive fabrication of the all-ceramic SSACs makes it possible for commercial applications. These SSACs are usually a regular combination of transition-metal carbides and nitrides, which show great thermal stability and optical properties simultaneously. The structure design of the SSACs will affect the element diffusion, element oxidation, phase transition, as well as the spectral selectivity obviously. In this article, we review the structure designs of all-ceramic SSACs, and the optical properties and thermal stability of the all-ceramic SSACs in the latest literature are also compared. The purpose of this review is to identify the optimal structure design of the all-ceramic SSAC, and we also present an outlook for the structure design strategy for all-ceramic SSACs with high photothermal conversion efficiency and thermal stability.
Highlights
Solar selective absorbing coatings (SSACs) harvest solar energy in the form of heat
Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants are known as high-temperature solar–thermal systems and are widely used in power supplying
In the “power tower” plant, a collector coated with SSACs is heated to be more than 550°C to melt the salt, and the molten salt is used to produce superheated steam for power generation by heat exchange, as
Summary
Solar selective absorbing coatings (SSACs) harvest solar energy in the form of heat. Due to the abundant solar energy on earth, the application of the SSACs is a promising way to protect the environment by reducing the usage of fossil fuels. To meet the demand of increasing energy consumption, in recent years, increased attention has been focused on the industrial applications of the SSACs at high temperature through Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, such as central receiver (or “power tower”), solar dishes, solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs), or solar thermophotovoltaics (STPVs) (Cao et al, 2014). In these situations, the SSACs are working under high temperature to obtain high efficiency. In the “power tower” plant, a collector coated with SSACs is heated to be more than 550°C to melt the salt (usually 60% KNO3 + 40% NaNO3), and the molten salt is used to produce superheated steam for power generation by heat exchange, as
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