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Optical Properties and Durability of Al2O3-NiP/Al Solar Absorbers Prepared by Electroless Nickel Composite Plating

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Abstract

A simple and low-cost method, electroless nickel composite plating, was used to deposit an Al2O3-NiP composite coating on an Al substrate to form an Al2O3-NiP/Al solar absorber. The effects of the Al2O3 content in the Al2O3-NiP composite coating, the thickness of the coating, and the use of a double-layer Al2O3-NiP composite coating and a TiO2 antireflection (AR) layer on the optical characteristics of the Al2O3-NiP/Al absorbers were studied. The absorptance (α) and thermal emittance (ε) of the Al2O3-NiP/Al absorbers increased with the Al2O3 content in the Al2O3-NiP composite coating and decreased as the thickness of the coating increased. A double-layer Al2O3-NiP/Al absorber with 2:1 thickness ratio of the top layer (Al2O3-NiP with 25 vol.% Al2O3) to the inner layer (Al2O3-NiP with 7 vol.% Al2O3) had the best optical properties (α/ε = 0.746/0.103). The optimal double-layer Al2O3-NiP/Al absorber with a 106-nm-thick TiO2 AR layer achieved absorptance of 0.893 and thermal emittance of 0.111. The results of a thermal stability test and a condensation test revealed that the TiO2-coated double-layer Al2O3-NiP/Al absorbers had excellent thermal stability, and their failure time in the condensation test exceeded 100 h.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Formosa University, Huwei, 632, Taiwan, ROC

    T. K. Tsai, J. H. Lee & J. S. Fang

  2. Graduate Institute of Material Science and Green Energy Engineering, National Formosa University, Huwei, 632, Taiwan, ROC

    T. K. Tsai, S. J. Hsueh, J. H. Lee & J. S. Fang

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  1. T. K. Tsai
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  2. S. J. Hsueh
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  3. J. H. Lee
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  4. J. S. Fang
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Correspondence to T. K. Tsai.

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Tsai, T.K., Hsueh, S.J., Lee, J.H. et al. Optical Properties and Durability of Al2O3-NiP/Al Solar Absorbers Prepared by Electroless Nickel Composite Plating. J. Electron. Mater. 41, 53–59 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-011-1746-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-011-1746-2

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