Low solar absorptivity, space environmentally stable polymeric materials possessing sufficient electrical conductivity for electrostatic charge dissipation (ESD) are of interest for potential applications on spacecraft as thin film membranes on antennas, solar sails, large lightweight space optics, and second surface mirrors. One method of imparting electrical conductivity while maintaining low...

Nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) has been used in many different fields of science and technology, due to its great structural characteristics. Solar selective surface is an important application of this type porous material. This paper investigates the effect of nanoporous AAO properties, including; film thickness, pore area percentage and pore diameter, on absorption spectra in the rang...

nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (aao) has been used in many different fields of science and technology, due to its great structural characteristics. solar selective surface is an important application of this type porous material. this paper investigates the effect of nanoporous aao properties, including; film thickness, pore area percentage and pore diameter, on absorption spectra in the rang...

The intermediate band solar cell (IBSC) concept aims to improve upon the Shockley-Queisser limit for single bandgap solar cells by also making use of below bandgap photons through sequential absorption processes via an intermediate band (IB). Current proposals for IBSCs suffer from low absorptivity values for transitions into and out of the IB. We therefore devise and evaluate a general, implem...

It is well known that the efficiency of thermodynamic solar plants increases with the working temperature. At present the main limit in temperature upscaling is the absorber capability to withstand high temperatures. The ideal solar absorber works at high temperatures, has a low thermal emissivity and a high absorptivity in the solar spectral range . The paper reports on the high temperature em...

A high performance solar absorber using a 2D tantalum superlattice photonic crystal (PhC) is proposed and its design is optimized for high-temperature energy conversion. In contrast to the simple lattice PhC, which is limited by diffraction in the short wavelength range, the superlattice PhC achieves solar absorption over broadband spectral range due to the contribution from two superposed latt...

Natural dye-sensitized solar cells (NDSSCs) have gained considerable attention in the field of solar energy due to their simple fabrication, good efficiency, and low production cost. Natural dyes are environmentally and economically superior to ruthenium-based dyes because they are nontoxic and cheap. However, the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells based on natural dyes is low....

Current solar to thermal energy conversion technologies, including concentrated solar power (CSP) and solar water heaters (SWH) utilize absorber surfaces that collect incident solar radiation. However, these absorber surfaces emit thermal energy (at their temperature) in the infrared (IR) spectrum, resulting in decreased overall efficiency for solar-to-thermal conversion. Selective absorber sur...

It is a known rule that the efficiency of thermodynamic solar plants increases with the working temperature. At present the main limit in temperature upscaling is the absorber capability to withstand high temperatures. The ideal solar absorber works at high temperatures and has both a low thermal emissivity and a high absorptivity in the solar spectral range. The present work reports on the pre...

Relative to solar water heaters, solar air heaters have received relatively little investigation and have resulted in few commercial products. However, in the context of a humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination cycle, air heating accounts for advantages in cycle performance. Solar collectors can be over 40% of an air-heated HDH system’s cost; thus, design optimization is crucial. Be...