We report a solar selective coating of W/WAlSiN/SiON/SiO₂ fabricated using a Four-Cathode Reactive Unbalanced Direct Current (DC) magnetron sputtering system with high thermal stability, good durability and resistance to outdoor testing conditions. The coating also exhibits superior mechanical properties (Hardness ∼12 GPa). In addition, thermal shock tests at high temperatures and solar accelerated ageing measurements are investigated in-depth to analyze the performance of the solar absorber coating. The thermal shock tests of the samples at various temperatures in the range of 500–600 °C depict the excellent thermophysical resistance of the as-deposited samples. To test the thermal durability of the solar absorber coating, we applied 200 cycles of solar accelerated ageing on the samples using a solar accelerated ageing facility with concentrated flux density varying from 50 to 250 kW/m². These cycles have been defined to replicate real high solar flux and temperature on the front side of the samples along with high cooling and heating rates, reproducing the abrupt variations of solar irradiation due to cloudy weather and subsequent thermal shocks for a given receiver. Overall, the durability tests of the solar absorber carried out under various conditions indicate a minimal change in the optical properties (Δα = 0.002 and Δε = 0), thus, making it a potential candidate for high-temperature solar thermal applications.

我们报告了 W/WAlSiN/SiON/SiO ₂的太阳能选择性涂层使用四阴极反应不平衡直流 (DC) 磁控溅射系统制造，具有高热稳定性、良好的耐用性和对户外测试条件的抵抗力。该涂层还表现出优异的机械性能（硬度~12 GPa）。此外，还深入研究了高温下的热冲击测试和太阳能加速老化测量，以分析太阳能吸收涂层的性能。样品在 500-600°C 范围内的各种温度下的热冲击测试描述了沉积样品的优异热物理耐受性。为了测试太阳能吸收涂层的热耐久性，我们使用太阳能加速老化设施对样品进行了 200 次太阳能加速老化循环，集中通量密度从 50 到 250 kW/m² . 这些循环已被定义为在样品正面复制真实的高太阳通量和温度以及高冷却和加热速率，重现由于给定接收器的多云天气和随后的热冲击引起的太阳辐射的突然变化。总体而言，在各种条件下进行的太阳能吸收器的耐久性测试表明光学特性的变化很小（Δα = 0.002 和 Δε = 0），因此，使其成为高温太阳能热应用的潜在候选者。