Plasmon silica aerogel for improving high-temperature solar thermal conversion

The next generation concentrated solar thermal (CST) plants need to move toward higher operation temperatures to achieve higher thermodynamic efficiency. However, solar absorbers operating at high temperatures have a significant radiative thermal loss. In the present study, a hybrid plasmon aerogel doped with ITO nanocylinders was proposed for improving the photothermal conversion in high-temperature CST plants. For the first time, the localized surface plasmon resonance was applied in high-temperature photothermal conversion to achieve the greenhouse effect of aerogel. The effects of nanoparticle morphology, size, and doping concentration on the infrared absorption performance of the hybrid aerogel were investigated by the combination of the T-matrix and Monte Carlo method. The operation temperature of the solar absorber was calculated to evaluate the insulation performance of the hybrid plasmon aerogels. The results show that, at the solar concentration ratio C = 20, the maximum increase of 113.9 °C in operation temperature can be achieved with aerogel thickness l = 5 mm and ITO nanocylinder doping concentration f_v = 0.016%. This study sheds light on high-efficiency hybrid plasmon aerogel serving as a transparent thermal insulation barrier for high-temperature CST plants with high solar transmittance, low thermal conductivity, and low radiative thermal loss.