Ultrablack nanoneedles obtain new benchmarks for photo voltaic tower mild absorption
by Erica Marchand
Paris, France (SPX) Nov 04, 2025
Concentrated solar energy is gaining traction as a future renewable power supply because of its environment friendly thermal power storage. Traditionally extra expensive and complicated than photovoltaic techniques, advances have made concentrated photo voltaic more and more viable and adopted for sustainable power manufacturing.
Inigo Gonzalez de Arrieta of the Thermophysical Properties of Supplies group on the College of the Basque Nation (EHU) described their work on ultrablack supplies for tower functions. “We’re exploring ultrablack supplies to be used in photo voltaic towers.” In these crops, mirrors focus daylight onto an absorber tower.
“The extra we are able to obtain absorbing supplies which can be simpler, the extra aggressive the techniques will likely be, and we will likely be opening up alternatives for any such power,” Gonzalez de Arrieta said. EHU makes use of state-of-the-art gear for thermo-optical evaluation of samples, with few labs globally geared up for such high-temperature analysis.
The staff characterised copper cobaltate nanoneedles, patented by UC San Diego, and located marked enhancements over prior absorber applied sciences. “We noticed that these copper cobaltate nanoneedles carried out higher than the carbon nanotubes used till now, and that these nanoneedles carried out even higher when coated with zinc oxide,” reported Gonzalez de Arrieta.
Photo voltaic tower designs try for optimum mild absorption leveraging ultra-black supplies. Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, the blackest out there, characteristic robust light-trapping capability however lack stability at excessive temperatures and humidity, requiring further coatings that cut back effectivity. “Carbon nanotubes take up about 99% of the sunshine, however they can’t be used on photo voltaic towers.” In distinction, copper cobaltate nanoneedles – particularly zinc oxide-coated – confirmed improved thermal stability and absorption reaching 99.5%. Present customary black silicon absorbs about 95%.
Dr Renkun Chen (UC San Diego) and collaborators on the US Division of Power goal to deploy zinc oxide-coated copper cobaltate nanoneedles in photo voltaic towers, although growth faces regulatory and technical challenges.
Photo voltaic tower services run in areas corresponding to Andalusia and desert areas worldwide. Concentrated photo voltaic crops provide about 5% of Spain’s power, offering clear era and efficient thermal storage. The warmth is used to soften particular salts, with molten salt retentive for environment friendly energy grid supply even after sundown.
EHU continues to develop new coatings to additional advance optical and conductive properties for next-generation photo voltaic tower absorbers.
Analysis Report:AZO-coated refractory nanoneedles as ultra-black wide-angle solar absorbers
Associated Hyperlinks
University of the Basque Country
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