FRIENDS² organize MRS symposium in Phoenix on solar energy applications

FRIENDS² consortium organized on 19-20^th April 2017 a 2 days symposium during the MRS spring meeting 2017 in Phoenix/ USA. The symposium entitled “Surfaces, coatings, and interface in concentrated solar energy applications” was embedded in the topic “Energy storage and conversion”, that included 14 of totally 53 symposia. Organizers were Ramon Escobar Galindo (Abengoa Research), Jose Luis Endrino (Cranfield University), Matthias Krause (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden – Rossendorf) and Ibon Azkona (Metal Estalki).

The symposium program comprised 8 invited talks, 27 oral contributions and 8 posters, representing the most recent developments and activities in the research field. The eight symposium sessions were dedicated to specific directions of concentrated solar energy, enabling non-permanent symposium attendees a topic-selective participation. All in all, the symposium was attended by over 100 participants, and the lively discussions directly after the talks or in the breaks reflected a high degree of productivity of the participating solar energy community.

Aspects of solar thermal electricity and photovoltaics were treated in a balanced manner. E.g., the question whether perovskites represent the future of photovoltaics was addressed in one photovoltaic session. In the sessions of solar thermal electricity, material science solutions, relevant analytical measurements and coating technologies were in the focus. It was demonstrated that material science solutions involve new materials themselves as well as new geometries of established materials or even both. Application-relevant analytical measurements require in situ conditions and should be representative for the operational lifetimes of solar power plants, i.e. for 25 to 30 years. For coating technologies cost aspects are extremely important, favoring atmospheric spraying or sol-gel techniques in comparison to physical vapor deposition.

Members of the FRIENDS² consortium presented results of the project in 4 oral talks and 1 poster. In the first morning session, Ramon Escobar (ABG) presented on behalf of Irene Heras the work entitled “Design of Solar Selective Coatings Based on Aluminum Titanium AlTi(O_xN_1-x) Oxynitrides for High-Temperature CSP Applications“. Lately in the afternoon Erik Schumman and Daniel Janke (HZDR) showed their results on “3D Si-SiO₂ Nano-Networks Formed by Diode Laser –Induced- Liquid and Solid-State Decomposition of SiO_x” and “In Situ RBS, Raman, and Ellipsometry Studies of Layered Material Systems at High Temperatures in a Cluster Tool”, respectively. On Thursday session entitled Smart Concepts for Improving Performance of CSP Components, Sarah Yasir (CRAN) and Frank Lungwitz (HZDR) presented their developments on “Nickel-Aluminium Based Anticorrosion Coatings Prepared by Plasma Spray for CSP Applications” and “Solar-Selective and Temperature-Stable SnO2-Based TCO for Solar Thermal Applications”, respectively.