Solar energy presents the greatest potential by which to produce heat energy with reduced carbon emissions for power generation. To increase its harvesting and conversion, it is necessary to understand fundamental concepts and develop new materials. Although many processes can obtain selective absorbing surfaces (SAS) for application in solar energy exploitation, including electroplating methods, those processes have not sufficiently investigated the substrate’s treatment impact. The present work investigates 304 stainless steel (SS304) substrates treatment influence on the film’s (coatings) optical properties of SAS based on CrO3 electroplating. For this purpose, three main steps featured in the methodology: substrates treatment, coatings deposition, and physical-chemical characterization. The former was performed by detergent cleaning (DC), acid treatment (AT), and electropolishing (EP). Then, coatings were electroplated towards chromium deposition on the substrates with different deposition times. Finally, films were characterized by Profilometry, UV-Vis-NIR, and IR regions Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results indicated that, in terms of surface treatments on the substrate, the electropolished (EP) substrates presented average roughness values of 35 nm, reflectivity of 5.09%, and clear morphological difference (SEM) when compared to other treatments in this study (DC and AT). A SAS was successfully obtained, and the electropolished substrates (EP) presented coatings with better optical performance than other samples (DC and AT), with absorptivity values around 98% and emissivity of approximately 7%. A relationship between substrate treatment, its roughness, and the impacts on the optical selectivity of SASs was observed. Therefore, electropolishing is presented as a promising treatment for the SASs substrates.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.