Solar absorptance of copper–cobalt oxide thin film coatings with nano-size, grain-like morphology: Optimization and synchrotron radiation XPS studies

Abstract

Copper-cobalt oxides thin films had been successfully coated on reflective aluminium substrates via a facile sol-gel dip-coating method for solar absorptance study. The optimum absorptance in the range of solar radiation is needed for further optimum design of this material for selective solar absorber application. Field emission scanning electron microscopy was used to characterize the surface morphology of the coating whereby nano-size, grain-like morphology was observed.Synchrotron with dip-speed 120 mm/min (four cycles). The operational simplicity of the dip-coating system indicated that it could be extended for coating of other mixed metal oxides as well.

Tailoring the physicochemical and mechanical properties of optical copper–cobalt oxide thin films through annealing treatment

“…The dip-heating cycles were conducted four times before final annealing at temperatures from 500°C to 650°C for 1 hour. Four dip-heating cycles process was adopted because it could provide an optimized reflective system compared to other numbers of cycles [20]. If the annealing temperature was set lower, residual organic groups would not be completely removed, while temperatures higher than 650°C could also not be applied since it was limited by the melting point of aluminium substrate.…”

“…This is quite surprising, in view of the fact that mechanical strength and durability are important in extending their service life. In our previous work, the copper cobalt oxide thin films were deposited on aluminium substrate via the sol-gel dip-coating route [19,20,21]. The resulting coatings exhibited distinctive optical properties with a spectrally selective profile in the UV-Vis-NIR wavelengths region.…”

“…Copper-cobalt oxide thin film coatings were deposited using a sol-gel dip-coating technique described in our previous reports [19,20] …”

Developments in the synthesis of flat plate solar selective absorber materials via sol–gel methods: A review

“…A Cu x Co y O z spinel-like structure on an aluminum substrate has been synthesized via facile sol-gel process for a selective absorber [114]. Copper acetate and cobalt chloride were mixed using absolute ethanol.…”

Optical and Morphological Characterization of BaSeThinFilms Synthesized via Chemical Bath Deposition

“…In the past few decades, various different techniques such as chemical bath deposition [6], cluster beam deposition [7], electro deposition [8], molecular beam epitaxy [9], thermal evaporation, spray pyrolysis [10], sputter deposition [11], metal organic chemical vapour deposition [12], sol-gel dip-coating technique [13][14][15], photo-enhanced chemical vapour deposition [16]and plasma polymerization method [17] have been extensively used to synthesize the thin film coatings for commercial and industrial applications. However, in the recent times, chemical bath deposition technique has been widely used for the development of thin film coatings because its cost effectiveness, minimum materials wastage, does not need sophisticated machineries and can be applied in large area deposition at low temperatures.…”