Abstract
In this work, we design an ultra-broadband metamaterial solar absorber with near-unity absorption. The absorber’s structure is optimized by using the particle swarm optimization algorithm. A unit cell of the absorber consists of three ${\rm Ti}/{{\rm TiO}_2}/{\rm Ti}$ square disks enclosed by a Ti square ring resonator, all superimposed on a thin stack of ${{\rm TiO}_2}/{\rm Ti}$ films. The optimized structure shows high average absorption of 96.92% over the full wavelength range of 200–3200 nm. The over 90% absorption bandwidth is 3000 nm, which covers the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared regions. The solar absorption of the structure is 95.5% in the range of 280–3200 nm. The absorber is polarization independent and insensitive to incident angle changes. The absorption remains higher than 80% and 75% for TM and TE polarizations, respectively, even under oblique incidence radiation up to 55°. The structure possesses high thermal and chemical stability owing to the use of Ti and ${{\rm TiO}_2}$ materials. Due to its outstanding features, the absorber has high potential to be used in solar energy harvesting, thermo-photovoltaics, and thermal emitting applications.
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