Nickel-Infused Nanoporous Alumina as Tunable Solar Absorber
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MRS Advances © 2020 Materials Research Society DOI: 10.1557/adv.2020.300
Nickel-Infused Nanoporous Alumina as Tunable Solar Absorber Xuanjie Wang1, Hengyuan Yang1, Mei-Li Hsieh2, 3, James A. Bur2, Shawn-Yu Lin2, Shankar Narayanan1, * 1
Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th St., Troy, NY, 12180, United States.
2
Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th St., Troy, NY, 12180, United States.
3
Department of Photonics, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu City, Taiwan.
* Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract
Solar energy can alleviate our dependence on traditional energy sources like coal and petroleum. In this regard, the design and performance of solar absorbers are crucial for capturing energy from sunlight. Specifically, for applications relying on solar-thermal energy conversion, it is desirable to construct solar absorbers using scalable techniques that also allow a variation in optical properties. In this study, we demonstrate the ability to tune the spectral absorptance of nickel-infused nanoporous alumina using a scalable and inexpensive fabrication procedure. With simple variations in the geometry of the nanostructures, we enable broadband absorption with a net solar absorptance of 0.96 and thermal emittance of 0.98 and spectrally-selective absorption with a net solar absorptance of 0.83 and thermal emittance of 0.22. The simple manufacturing techniques presented in this study to generate nanoengineered surfaces can lead to further advancements in solar absorbers with well-controlled and application-specific optical properties. 1
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INTRODUCTION Renewable energy such as solar, wind, and geothermal energy can alleviate our dependence on fossil fuels. Among them, leveraging solar energy by converting sunlight to electricity or thermal energy is a promising technique to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this regard, solar absorbers are essential for energy conversion. The absorbers can be constructed using materials that exhibit a wide range of radiative properties, including broadband and spectrally-selective absorption. Broadband solar absorbers provide nearly complete absorption of the incident radiation over a wide range of wavelengths, which can include significant portions of the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared spectrum. For example, absorbers based on carbon [1–4], graphene [5–7], and plasmonic nanoparticles [8,9] showing broadband absorption have been explored extensively for numerous applications. Spectrally-selective absorbers, on the other hand, show a desirable wavelength-dependent absorptance. Materials showing wavelengthselective absorption include ceramic multilayers [10], ceramic-metal composite [11,12] and metamaterials [
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