Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part A (2024)

Solar absorber coatings are widely used to develop the higher optical and thermal performances of solar thermal devices. Solar absorber is a central component of any solar thermal device. Its optical characteristics can be improved by having coating with nano carbon and copper oxide on the metal based medium. Its thermal characteristics can be studied in the field conditions so as to analyze the impact of those improved optical characteristics of the coated medium. In this connection, the present research was devoted not only to prepare and characterize the nano carbon and copper oxide coated solar absorber but also to analyze the thermal performance of solar thermal collector. It was found that the nano carbon and copper oxide coated solar absorbers could be effectively prepared by using conventional spray coating method. It was also found that the chemical constituents in the coating had the size of 50.12nm. It was as well found that the maximum temperature enhancement of nano coated copper, aluminum, zinc-iron alloy solar absorbers were varied from 39.3 to 50.3 oC, 39.5 to 50.7 oC and 38.5 to 48.8 oC respectively. It could be concluded that nano coated solar absorber would be utilized in solar thermal device with desirable shapes so as to reap better thermal performances.