Abstract: “Photothermal devices require high performance solar selective materials for the surface of solar energy converters. A good solar selective surface exhibits high spectral absorptance in the visible range and low thermal emittance in the infrared to far-infrared range of the solar spectrum. 3d transition metal oxide based thin film coatings are explored as high solar selective material to be used in solar energy harvesting devices. Solar selectivity of such coatings depends on the deposition conditions, crystal structure, chemical composition, microstructural morphology, composition uniformity and stoichiometry. This report highlights and summarizes the optical properties and mechanical characteristics of some recently developed sol-gel dipcoating derived from CuxCoyOz transition metal oxides based solar selective surfaces thinfilms. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis spectrometer, FTIR spectrophotometer, nanoindentation and Synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (SR-XRD) te”

Keywords: Photothermal, solar selective surface, solar absorptance, thermal emittance, optical thin films, sol-gel, solar selectivity