Solar absorbers using 1D and 2D periodic nanostructured nickel films

This paper presents results obtained from finite difference time domain and transfer matrix method modelling of nickel thin films. It is shown that by adding a periodic 1D grating to the surface of the nickel its optical absorption over the 300 nm-1000 nm spectral range can be dramatically increased. 2D gratings show excellent polarization independence making them ideally suited to high temperature solar thermal applications.