Optical simulation and preparation of novel Mo/ZrSiN/ZrSiON/SiO2 solar selective absorbing coating

•A novel Mo/ZrSiN/ZrSiON/SiO2 coating was simulated and prepared.•Absorptance of 0.94 and emittance (500 °C) of 0.12 were obtained.•The coating is thermally stable up to 500 °C for 500 h in vacuum.

A novel Mo/ZrSiN/ZrSiON/SiO2 solar selective absorbing coating has been investigated, which was prepared by magnetron sputtering on stainless steel substrate. A high solar absorptance of 0.94 and a low thermal emittance of 0.06 at 25 °C were achieved. By proportionally decreasing the thicknesses of the ZrSiN, ZrSiON and SiO2 layers, the thermal emittance at 500 °C was decreased significantly from 0.19 to 0.12 (Δε=0.07) while keeping the solar absorptance unchanged. The coating also showed high thermal stability at 500 °C in vacuum, implying that it is a promising candidate for high temperature concentrated solar power (CSP) applications.