Carbon nanotube-based tandem absorber with tunable spectral selectivity: transition from near-perfect blackbody absorber to solar selective absorber.

CVD grown CNT thin film with a thickness greater than 10 μm behaves like a near-perfect blackbody absorber (i.e., α/ε = 0.99/0.99). Whereas, for a thickness ≤ 0.4 µm, the CNT based tandem absorber acts as a spectrally selective coating (i.e., α/ε = 0.95/0.20). These selective coatings exhibit thermal stability up to 650 °C in vacuum, which can be used for solar thermal power generation.