Energy storage gel coating

Can coatings improve concentrating solar power plants?

This review explores the pivotal role of coatings in advancing Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants, crucial for harnessing clean and sustainable energy. Covering various coating techniques, including vapor deposition, laser deposition, sol-gel, thermal spray, and others, the study evaluates their applications, advantages, and limitations.

Why are coatings important for energy systems?

This dual role significantly increases the efficiency and sustainability of these energy systems, situating coatings as integral components in improving the performance and durability of these plants. With regard to their application as a corrosion barrier, in general, all deposition techniques are low-cost methods with optimal results.

Can sol-gel coatings be used in solar power plants?

As discussed above, sol-gel coatings are very useful in solar thermal power plants. In addition to their good corrosion resistance, they can also be used as selective black coatings to improve the absorbance in CSP plants. A good example of this is the low-cost chromium-free selective multilayer surfaces .

What is sol-gel coating?

In particular, sol-gel shows remarkable versatility and allows the generation of more efficient coatings with good optical and corrosion-resistant properties. However, this technique is also energy-intensive and has a higher carbon footprint compared to other methods.

Can spray coatings be used as selective solar absorbers?

Tunneability to the application. The use of spray coatings as selective solar absorbers has achieved absorbance values of 0.84–0.96, with low emissivity of 0.04–0.36 and high energy conversion efficiency. In addition, they have proven to be resistant in high-temperature environments in day-night cyclic tests.

Can sol-gel coatings be used on metals?

For this reason, reviews of the use of sol-gel coatings on different metals (steel, copper, magnesium, magnesium, aluminium, and alloys) began to be carried out, as they have a great anti-corrosive effect [, , ]. In addition, they proved to be resistant to water and abrasion.