Solar-Absorbing Thin-Film Coatings
Official patent title
Method and system for depositing thin film on substrate
Arabic title: طريقة ونظام لترسيب غشاء رقيق على ركيزة
Invention
Invention
Problem
Solar-absorber coatings can have excessive reflectance, inadequate adhesion or quality, high-temperature requirements, and limited scalability for wide-area substrates.
Why it matters
Uniform, scalable thin films with controlled optical response could improve solar-thermal absorber surfaces while reducing dependence on complex deposition equipment.
Approach
The system immerses a suspended substrate in precursor liquid, drains the liquid by gravity at a controlled rate, dries the resulting layer, removes coating from one side, and thermally decomposes the remaining film. Repeated cycles form Co3O4/CuO solar-absorber multilayers.
Who may benefit
Potential beneficiaries include solar-thermal collector manufacturers, thin-film coating equipment developers, materials laboratories, glass and metal coaters, and renewable-energy researchers.
Potential value
The disclosure provides a gravity-managed immersion system for repeatable sub-10-μm layers, with precursor collection and measured optical and solar-heating behavior for Co3O4/CuO coatings.
Background
Background
Cobalt oxide absorbs broadly across the solar spectrum but can reflect a substantial portion of incident radiation. Thin-film and antireflective layers can improve solar-collector optical performance, yet advanced deposition methods such as sputtering may be difficult to scale economically. Conventional coatings may also have adhesion, quality, or temperature limitations. The publication proposes a modified immersion process intended to provide homogeneous, repeatable precursor layers on glass or metal substrates and to build multilayer cobalt-oxide and copper-oxide solar absorbers.
Technology overview
Technology overview
A substrate holder suspends glass or metal in a deposition vessel filled through an upper inlet. A lower outlet and valve drain precursor by gravity into a collection vessel while excess liquid leaves the substrate in a precursor-vapor atmosphere. The coating is dried, removed from one side, and decomposed into a thin film. Repeating the cycle builds Co3O4/CuO layers; XRD, absorbance, and direct-solar surface-temperature measurements characterize the result.
Potential applications
Potential applications
- Co3O4/CuO multilayer absorbers for solar-thermal collectors.
- Sub-10-μm coatings on glass or metal substrates.
- Modified immersion deposition for wide-area thin-film research.
- Antireflective and solar-absorption coating development.
Evidence-supported advantages
Evidence-supported advantages
- Gravity and a drain valve control precursor removal from the substrate.
- A collection vessel receives excess precursor liquid for managed handling.
- Repeated cycles adjust the number and thickness of deposited layers.
- The method accommodates both glass and metal substrate embodiments.
- XRD, absorbance, and direct-solar temperature measurements are described.
Development stage
Development stage
A laboratory deposition system with XRD, absorbance, and direct-solar surface-temperature measurements is described; industrial-scale operation was not established.
Commercial opportunity
Commercial opportunity
The system may interest solar-collector and coating-equipment manufacturers. Scale-up should verify large-area thickness uniformity, adhesion, abrasion and weathering resistance, thermal cycling, absorptance, reflectance, emissivity, precursor recovery, furnace energy, substrate throughput, process automation, worker safety, and cost against established coating methods.
Patent classifications
Patent classifications
WIPO IPC
- C23C18/12Coating metallic materials; coating materials with metallic material; surface treatment of metallic material; coating by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, ion implantation or chemical vapour deposition
- C03C17/00Chemical composition of glasses, glazes or vitreous enamels; surface treatment of glass and glass, mineral or slag fibres; joining glass to glass or other materials
CPC
- C23C18/1225Coating metallic materials; coating materials with metallic material; surface treatment of metallic material; coating by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, ion implantation or chemical vapour deposition
- C23C18/1291Coating metallic materials; coating materials with metallic material; surface treatment of metallic material; coating by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, ion implantation or chemical vapour deposition
- C23C18/1241Coating metallic materials; coating materials with metallic material; surface treatment of metallic material; coating by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, ion implantation or chemical vapour deposition
- C03C17/25Chemical composition of glasses, glazes or vitreous enamels; surface treatment of glass and glass, mineral or slag fibres; joining glass to glass or other materials
- C03C17/3417Chemical composition of glasses, glazes or vitreous enamels; surface treatment of glass and glass, mineral or slag fibres; joining glass to glass or other materials
- C23C18/1216Coating metallic materials; coating materials with metallic material; surface treatment of metallic material; coating by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, ion implantation or chemical vapour deposition
- C03C17/006Chemical composition of glasses, glazes or vitreous enamels; surface treatment of glass and glass, mineral or slag fibres; joining glass to glass or other materials
- C23C18/1245Coating metallic materials; coating materials with metallic material; surface treatment of metallic material; coating by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, ion implantation or chemical vapour deposition
- C03C2217/732Chemical composition of glasses, glazes or vitreous enamels; surface treatment of glass and glass, mineral or slag fibres; joining glass to glass or other materials
- C03C2218/111Chemical composition of glasses, glazes or vitreous enamels; surface treatment of glass and glass, mineral or slag fibres; joining glass to glass or other materials
- C03C2218/32Chemical composition of glasses, glazes or vitreous enamels; surface treatment of glass and glass, mineral or slag fibres; joining glass to glass or other materials
- C03C2217/734Chemical composition of glasses, glazes or vitreous enamels; surface treatment of glass and glass, mineral or slag fibres; joining glass to glass or other materials
Inventors
Inventors
- First inventorMohamed Abdel Rafea Ibrahim Konsow
Keywords
Keywords
- thin film deposition
- immersion coating
- solar absorber
- cobalt oxide
- copper oxide
- gravity drainage
- multilayer coating
- solar thermal
Patent document and drawings
Patent document and drawings
The patent publication is mapped to this record. Patent drawings remain within that publication; no separately cleared public media package has been supplied.