Method for producing plasmonic-nanostructure spectrally selective solar absorber having high solar absorptance, low thermal emittance, and high thermal stability
AssigneeNortheastern University
InventorsYanpei Tian, Yi Zheng
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Abstract
A method is disclosed for producing a plasmonic-nanostructure spectrally selective solar absorber having high solar absorptance, low thermal emittance, and superior thermal stability. The method includes the steps of providing an alloy structure containing a base metal and a copper alloying impurity, wherein copper has a weight percent concentration in the alloy of at least 0.25%; and applying an alkaline solution to a surface of the alloy structure to selectively dissolve base metal elements at the surface resulting in fabrication of sponge-like copper nanostructures on the surface configured to scatter, trap, and absorb light in solar wavelengths.
Claims20
A method of producing a plasmonic-nanostructure, spectrally-selective solar absorber having high solar absorptance, low thermal emittance, and superior thermal stability, comprising the steps of:
- providing an alloy structure containing a base metal and a copper alloying impurity, wherein copper has a weight percent concentration in the alloy of at least 0.25%;
- and
- applying an alkaline solution to a surface of the alloy structure to selectively dissolve base metal elements at the surface resulting in fabrication of porous copper nanostructures on the surface, the porous copper nanostructures exhibiting plasmonic resonance in the visible to near-infrared spectrum to scatter and absorb incident solar radiation, and the alloy structure underlying the porous copper nanostructures reflecting infrared radiation to suppress thermal emission.
A plasmonic-nanostructure, spectrally-selective solar absorber having high solar absorptance, low thermal emittance, and superior thermal stability, comprising an alloy structure containing a base metal and a copper alloying impurity, wherein copper has a weight percent concentration in the alloy of at least 0.25%, said alloy structure having porous copper nanostructures on a surface thereof, the porous copper nanostructures exhibiting plasmonic resonance in the visible to near-infrared spectrum to scatter and absorb incident solar radiation, and the alloy structure underlying the porous copper nanostructures reflecting infrared radiation to suppress thermal emission, said copper nanostructures formed on said surface by applying an alkaline solution to the surface to selectively dissolve base metal elements at the surface resulting in fabrication of the copper nanostructures.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.