Solar Selective Absorber for Emerging Sustainable Applications

Abstract

Solar selective absorbers (SSAs) possess high sunlight absorption (300–2500 nm) and low infrared thermal radiative losses (2.5–25 μm), which are undoubtedly the best choice for photothermal conversion process, and SSAs have been widely used in concentrating solar power, solar water heating, and solar drying. Recently, to promote the realization of “double carbon” goal, SSAs have received widespread attentions, many emerging sustainable applications have been developed. In this review, the recent developments of SSAs and their latest sustainable applications in solar‐driven seawater desalination, multistage solar desalination, atmospheric water harvesting (AWH), wastewater treatment, solar thermophotovoltaics (STPVs), hybrid photovoltaic‐thermal (HPVT), solar‐thermoelectric generators (STEG), personal thermal management (PTM), photothermal catalysis, photothermal deicing, and photothermal sterilization, etc. are systematically summarized. Also, the challenges as well as future opportunities of SSAs are discussion. It is expected that this review will effectively complement the published comments on SSAs and provide more inspirations on sustainable applications of SSAs in the future.

Enabling Highly Enhanced Solar Thermoelectric Generator Efficiency by a CuCrMnCoAlN-Based Spectrally Selective Absorber

“…It is worth noting that the optical properties of our developed CuCrMnCoAlN-based SSA are among those of previously reported state-of-the-art absorbers (detailed comparison can be seen in Table S3). − …”

Nanostructured Materials for Photothermal Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation: Regulating Solar Utilization and Catalytic Performance

“…The above nanostructured heat insulation strategies have an excellent blocking effect on thermal conduction rather than on thermal radiation, which needs an additional strategy to reduce the thermal radiation of photothermal materials to further improve the confinement ability of sunlight-converted thermal energy. ,, The essence of thermal radiation is IR light (the wavelength is mainly distributed at 4–100 μm) with a powerful penetration ability, which can pass through almost all substances and vacuum. , Inspired by the greenhouse effect, He et al have designed a core–shell structured catalyst composed of nickel nanocrystals and nanoporous silica shells, namely Ni@p-SiO 2 (Figure a) . This core–shell design can not only protect the interior from sintering but also reduce its heat conduction and IR light radiation to the environment (Figure b).…”

Conversion of Hazardous Diesel Soot Particles into a Novel Highly Efficient 3D Hydrogel for Solar Desalination and Wastewater Purification

“…Numerous solar steam generators with extremely high evaporation rates and near 100% SSG efficiencies have been introduced recently . In each case, the photothermal materials play a crucial role with its high solar absorption capability of >95% in solar spectra and convert the incoming solar energy into heat at the air–water interface. , For example, metallic nanoparticles like Au, carbon-based materials like graphene, semiconductor materials like MoS 2 and polymeric materials such as polypyrrole have been utilized extensively. ,, Among them, carbon-based materials have gained large attention owing to their black body features like light absorption, low-cost, and facile fabrication procedure . However, few reports focused on the use of waste materials like soot as photothermal materials. ,, In addition, reports on the utilization of diesel soot (DS) particles extracted from heavy vehicles for ISSG are negligible.…”

“… 10 , 11 For example, metallic nanoparticles like Au, carbon-based materials like graphene, semiconductor materials like MoS 2 and polymeric materials such as polypyrrole have been utilized extensively. 9 , 11 , 12 Among them, carbon-based materials have gained large attention owing to their black body features like light absorption, low-cost, and facile fabrication procedure. 13 However, few reports focused on the use of waste materials like soot as photothermal materials.…”