Symposium ES9-Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications

This symposium aims at covering some of the most recent advances and ideas in the field of surface science and engineering related to innovative solutions in concentrating solar power (CSP), concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) and hybrid thermal-CPV applications. In particular, it will be focused on research and development activities of coating designs, surface treatments and processes to improve the performance of key CSP and CPV components such as reflectors, lenses, receivers, advanced PV semiconductors as well as containers for heat storage for high temperature applications. New materials science approaches related to the development of metamaterials, graphene, oxides, nitrides and carbon-based materials with enhanced properties will be addressed.

The city of Phoenix and the Spring MRS meeting offer an ideal scenario to host this one-of-a-kind symposium due to the high number of nearby concentrated solar energy plants powering a significant fraction of the Phoenix region. The symposium is likely to count with the strongest support of the commercial sector, local and international universities, government labs and local authorities, and it will aspire to draw a significant amount of attention from the materials science community.

The topics of the symposium will cover, among others, computer simulation of new materials interfaces, modeling of optical properties using genetic algorithm approximations, multi-technique coating deposition including vacuum methods (electroplating, sputtering, cathodic arc evaporation, thermal spraying, chemical vapor deposition), wet chemistry (spin and dip coating, sol-gel) and other surface deposition and functionalization methods. It will also cover the use of advanced techniques for structural, optical, thermal, electrical and mechanical characterization (HRTEM, Raman, AFM, ion beam analysis, XRD, ellipsometry among others) with particular interest of in-situ methods for high temperature performance. A dedicated topic of the symposium will deal with new advances in scaling-up developments.

Topics will include:

New hybrid thermal CPV conceptions
Simulation and modeling of optical and electrical properties of emerging materials (selective coatings, reflectors, metamaterials, multijunction cells)
New coating concepts and designs for absorber, selective and antireflective materials for high temperature applications
Design and manufacturing of protective coatings for improving the corrosion resistance of CSP components in contact with HTFs
Epitaxial growth of multijunction cells for high-concentration CPV
Advanced methods of vacuum deposition, wet chemistry and surface functionalization treatments
In-situ characterization of materials for high temperature performance
Scaling up concepts: from lab to commercial CSP and CPV plants

Invited Speakers:

ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _0 (Sandia National Laboratories, USA)
ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _1 (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, National Aerospace Laboratories, India)
ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _2 (Stanford University, USA)
ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _3 (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, USA)
ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _4 (Solar Reserve and University of California at San Diego, USA)
ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _5 (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Spain)
ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _6 (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, National Institute of Solar Energy, France)
ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _7 (Cranfield University, United Kingdom)
ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _8 (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
ES9_Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces in Concentrated Solar Energy Applications _9 (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA)