Solar thermal harvesting based on self-doped nanocermet: Structural merits, design strategies and applications

Abstract Nanocermet is a promising candidate for solar thermal applications and can be commercialized owing to its excellent photothermal conversion efficiencies, controllable composition and simple preparation technologies. Magnetron sputtering technology is the commonest for industrial preparation of nanocermet solar selective absorber coatings (SSACs), which usually involves a complicated co-sputtering process (multiple targets work simultaneously). Such a complex process greatly increases the preparation cost. Hence, it is urgent to simplify the production process. In this review, the concept of self-doping is firstly proposed to design cermet-based SSACs, which obviously simplifies the preparation process while maintains their own optical properties. Then, a detailed discussion about four types of self-doped cermet SSACs has been performed. The industrial preparation processes of SSACs including vacuum solar collector tube and metal strip with SSACs are introduced. Finally, the applications of SSACs in terms of different temperatures are also presented. In addition, the short board and development trend are also discussed, which is of great significance to obtain high performance SSACs.