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 pricey and complicated than photovoltaic programs, 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 purposes. “We’re exploring ultrablack supplies to be used in photo voltaic towers.” In these vegetation, mirrors focus daylight onto an absorber tower.
“The extra we will obtain absorbing supplies which can be simpler, the extra aggressive the programs can be, and we can be opening up alternatives for the sort of power,” Gonzalez de Arrieta acknowledged. EHU makes use of state-of-the-art tools for thermo-optical evaluation of samples, with few labs globally geared up for such high-temperature analysis.
The crew 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 attempt for max mild absorption leveraging ultra-black supplies. Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, the blackest out there, characteristic sturdy light-trapping capability however lack stability at excessive temperatures and humidity, requiring additional coatings that scale 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 commonplace 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 improvement faces regulatory and technical challenges.
Photo voltaic tower services run in areas resembling Andalusia and desert areas worldwide. Concentrated photo voltaic vegetation provide about 5% of Spain’s power, offering clear technology 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 photo voltaic absorbers
Associated Hyperlinks
College of the Basque Nation
All About Photo voltaic Power at SolarDaily.com
