Preparation and characterization of a selective polymer-based solar absorber for building integration

Abstract

Recent technological advances in solar absorber production may have opened ways for new applications of these materials in buildings. A low-emissivity enhanced polymer-based absorber foil was developed and prototyped using mass-production industrial roll-to-roll process to demonstrate feasibility of the concept. This paper describes key development factors leading to particular composition of the prototype and its testing, especially spectroscopy measurements (both for shortwave and longwave regions) and environmental impact assessment. It also provides comparison of tested parameters with commercially available products. The results show that the developed absorber has fairly good thermal emissivity (around of 0.3), high solar absorption level (0.95) and significantly lower (up to 98 %) environmental impacts compared to the commercially available metal-based solar selective absorbers.