Publications Details

High-Temperature Solar Selective Coating Development for Power Tower Receivers (Final Report)

Ambrosini, Andrea A.; Gray, Matthew

Over the course of this project, solar selective coatings intended for next-generation power tower applications were researched and developed. The aim of these coatings was to combine high absorptance with relatively low thermal emittance in materials and designs that could perform without significant degradation at ≥700 °C and 600 suns irradiance in air. This would surpass the reported performance of the industry’s benchmark material, Pyromark® 2500. SunShot goals require that tower receiver coatings be stable in air, have high thermal conductivity, and be nonvolatile. We considered deposition methods that can be scaled-up to practical sizes and we made careful analyses of the costs associated with our coatings and the requirements that would make them effective. We have conducted durability testing of promising materials deposited on appropriate Ni-superalloy substrates in conventional thermal furnaces, solar simulators, and on-sun testing to understand the absorption efficiency of the coatings, degradation mechanisms and stability under realistic simulated environments.