Sprayable PEDOT:PSS based spectrally selective coating for solar energy harvesting

Abstract A novel spectrally selective coating was developed on stainless substrates using commercially available poly(ethylene-3,4-dioxythiophene):poly (styrene sulfonate), (PEDOT:PSS) polymer for solar energy harvesting applications. An intrinsic (i.e., single) absorber layer concept was used to develop this coating. The as-prepared PEDOT:PSS dispersion was applied on substrates with thickness in the range of 0.1–5.8 μm using an automated spray deposition system, and the effect of thickness on the optical properties was studied in detail. The intrinsic properties of PEDOT:PSS resulted in high absorptance and low emittance, this was ascertained using glass, quartz and KBR pellets. With optimization of coating thickness, the reflectance edge shifted towards higher wavelength and near perfect absorption was obtained over a broad wavelength range leading to very high absorptance. The optimized PEDOT:PSS coating (approximately 5.8 μm thick) deposited on stainless steel substrates exhibited absorptance of 0.967 and emittance of 0.36.