TiAlN solar selective absorbing coatings which were deposited on 304L stainless steel using cathodic arc evaporation method were annealed under non-vacuum at different temperatures with different times. The optical properties (absorptance and emittance) of the coatings were measured by a spectrophotometer. It was found that, after being annealed for 2 hours at different temperatures, the absorptance of the coatings reached the highest value of 0.92 at 700 °C while the emittance got the lowest value of 0.38 at 800 °C. When the coatings were annealed at 600 °C for 24 hours, the optical properties changed to 0.92/0.44 (absorptance/ emittance). By measuring the structure, morphology, elements and surface roughness of the coatings, it was found that both the elemental composition and the surface roughness of the coatings changed as a result of annealing, and these changes caused the change of the optical properties of the coatings.
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