CuO-PANI nanostructure with tunable spectral selectivity for solar selective coating application

Highlights: • CuO-PANI nanostructure has been reported as the solar selective absorber coating. • Solar selectivity and efficiency of the coatings have been evaluated. • PANI provides a surface texture favourable for multiple reflection. - Abstract: CuO-PANI nanostructure has been demonstrated as the solar selective absorber coating for the first time. The effortless chemical methods and easily scalable techniques such as precipitation, in-situ polymerization and spray coating were adopted for the fabrication of CuO nanorods and CuO-PANI nanostructures for solar application. The synthesis was carried out without using any template. The morphology and phase structure of fabricated CuO nanorods and CuO-PANI nanostructure coatings were studied by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The energy dispersive X-ray spectra and elemental mapping confirm the presence of the chosen elements in the nanostructure. The solar absorptance (α_s), thermal emittance (ε_t) and selectivity (ξ) of the nanostructure coatings on glass substrate were optimized to 0.94, 0.01 and 94 respectively by changing the polyaniline content on the surface of the CuO nanorods. The efficiency of the solar selective coatings were evaluated. The optimized solar absorber coating of CuO-PANI nanostructure is highly promising for its selective optical properties.