Solar energy full-spectrum perfect absorption and efficient photo-thermal generation

Designing and manufacturing cost-effective absorbers that can cover the full-spectrum of solar irradiation is still critically important for solar harvesting. Utilizing control of the lightwave reflection and transmission, metamaterials realize high absorption over a relatively wide bandwidth. Here, a truncated circular cone metasurface (TCCM) composed of alternating multiple layers of titanium (Ti) and silicon dioxide (SiO₂) is presented. Enabled by the synergetic of surface plasmon resonances and Fabry-Pérot resonances, the TCCM simultaneously achieves high absorptivity (exceed 90%), and absorption broadband covers almost the entire solar irradiation spectrum. In addition, the novel absorber exhibits great photo-thermal property. By exploiting the ultrahigh melting point of Ti and SiO₂, high-efficiency solar irradiation absorption and heat release have been achieved at 700℃ when the solar concentration ratio is 500 (i.e., incident light intensity at 5×10⁵ W/m²). It is worth noting that the photo-thermal efficiency is almost unchanged when the incident angle increases from 0° to 45°. The outstanding capacity for solar harvesting and light-to-heat reported in this paper suggests that TCCM has great potential in photothermal therapies, solar desalination, and radiative cooling, etc.