Abstract
In this paper, we designed an ultra-wideband solar energy absorber and approved it numerically by the finite-difference time-domain simulation. The designed solar energy absorber can achieve a high absorption of more than 90% of light in a continuous 3.506 μm (0.596 μm–4.102 μm) wavelength range. The basic structure of the absorber is based on silicon dioxide colloidal crystal and Ti. Since the materials have a high melting point, the designed solar energy absorber can work normally under high temperature, and the structure of this solar energy absorber is simpler than most solar energy absorbers fabricated with traditional metal. In the entire wavelength band researched, the average absorption of the colloidal crystal-based solar energy absorber is as high as 94.3%, demonstrating an excellent performance under the incidence light of AM 1.5 solar spectrum. In the meantime, the absorption spectrum of the solar energy absorber is insensitive to the polarization of light. In comparison to other similar structures, our designed solar energy absorber has various advantages, such as its high absorption in a wide spectrum range and that it is low cost and easy to make.
Highlights
The energy crisis is an important factor that restricts social development
As incident light can well resonate with a solar energy absorber, the designed solar energy absorber can achieve ultra-broadband perfect absorption in nearinfrared to near-ultraviolet region
2 is the optical spectra of from colloidal crystal-array-based solar to energy absorber
Summary
The energy crisis is an important factor that restricts social development. Developing a collection and utilization approach of renewable energy is a major method to solve the problem. Because of the inherent single resonance of plasmonic nanostructure and meta-materials, most solar energy absorbers based on MIM structure only realize high absorption in a narrow spectrum band, not satisfying the requirement of the solar energy absorber [15,16,17]. We propose a broad-spectrum solar absorber based on colloidal silica crystal array and titanium, which can achieve high absorption of solar energy over the longest possible wavelength band. As incident light can well resonate with a solar energy absorber, the designed solar energy absorber can achieve ultra-broadband perfect absorption in nearinfrared to near-ultraviolet region. The designed absorber is insensitive to the polarization of light and has good performance under a certain incident angle It can work for long-life time because the solar energy absorber is composed of refractory materials
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