Indium tin oxide and gold nanoparticle solar filters for concentrating photovoltaic thermal systems

Ebrima Tunkara, Drew DeJarnette, Aaron E. Saunders, Matthew Baldwin, Todd Otanicar and Kenneth P. Roberts

Applied Energy, 2019, vol. 252, issue C, -

Abstract: The combination of concentrating solar power and photovoltaic technologies in hybrid photovoltaics thermal systems have the potential of increasing the overall efficiency of solar energy by utilizing non-Photovoltaic wavelengths as dispatchable thermal energy for use as industrial process heat and/or electricity generation using a thermal engine. One way of achieving this requires a thermally-stable spectral filter capable of effectively transmitting photovoltaic radiation while absorbing non-Photovoltaic radiation. Here, we utilize indium tin oxide and gold nanoparticles in a silane-based heat transfer fluid capable of withstanding temperatures up to 340 °C while maintaining spectral transparency at photovoltaic wavelengths. To promote compatibility with the heat transfer fluid and achieve greater thermal stability of the nanoparticles, surface modifications were performed for both the indium tin oxide and the gold nanoparticles. It was found that the greatest solution stability was achieved with the use of a (6–7% aminopropylmethylsiloxane)-dimethylsiloxane copolymer surface ligand. Interestingly, when heating the nanoparticles, a spectral blue-shift was observed in the localized surface plasmon resonance peaks of both nanoparticles along with an increase in absorptivity for indium tin oxide. Analysis of the filter performance revealed that a filter optimized for c-Si photovoltaic receiver transmits 73% of bandgap radiation and absorbs 78% of sub-bandgap radiation. The increasing solar absorption properties of the nanoparticle at higher temperatures helped the filter maintained an ideal performance up to 250 °C, even with lower concentrations of nanoparticles. At 300 °C, however, the filter performance reduced due to the disappearance of the gold peak, which is attributed to the inferring free tin ions.

Keywords: ITO nanoparticle; Spectral properties; LSPR; Temperature dependence; Metal oxide; Heat transfer fluids (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626191931133X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:252:y:2019:i:c:56

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113459

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().