The use of ceramic surfaces for thermal solar concentrators are not new, but the high costs of fabrication and limited thermal properties have banned the application of such at large scale. Silicon carbide (SiC) is well known due to its high thermo-mechanical properties and spectral absorbance. Because of its capacities to enhance the energy transfer and its resistance to high temperatures silicon carbide have been recognized in our group as a possible improvement to increase the efficiency of electric energy production. At nano-scale SiC shows high surface area and porosity that could be tuned, making it a state-of-the-art material to be used in the application of thermal solar receptors in "Central Tower" power plants. Although the advantages are favorable, the high temperature needs for its synthesis have been an issue for its spread. In the present work, we introduce a novel method to synthesize SiC powders at lower temperature (650°C) we present also its characterization for the potential application in the concentration of thermal solar energy at high temperatures.

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The use of concentrated solar energy in processing ceramic materials is an attractive route to obtain these materials with low CO2 emissions. In this work, nanostructures of monoclinic zirconia (m-ZrO2) were obtained using concentrated solar energy provided by the IER-UNAM solar furnace as a heat source. In the first stage of the process, a Zr/O/C complex was obtained by sol-gel method at a temperature of 120 °C using zirconium n-propoxide and sorbitol as precursors reagents. This complex was used in a second stage to obtain m-ZrO2 by heating it at a temperature of 1200 °C for one hour in air atmosphere. This last stage was performed in a solar furnace. Samples were analyzed by characterization techniques: FT-IR, TGA/DSC, XRD, TEM, and SEM confirming the formation of nanostructures of zirconia in monoclinic phase.

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