Advanced Optical Coatings Laboratory - OCTLAB

This laboratory line is dedicated to the development and characterization of coatings for solar thermal applications. One of the main activities involves the development of selective and non-selective coatings for solar absorbers used in solar concentrating systems operating at low, medium, and high temperatures (up to 1000°C). These coatings can be applied to various substrate configurations, including flat surfaces, tubular structures, particles, and foams. Other activities focus on the development of antireflective and anti-soiling coatings for the glass covers of solar receivers.
The laboratory is equipped to prepare coatings using chemical methods (such as dip-coating) and to characterize and evaluate their durability and performance. Additionally, it can analyze and study other coatings available on the market or developed by public or private institutions. The equipment associated with this laboratory can also be used for the optical characterization of solar reflectors, complementing the capabilities of the OPAC laboratory, which is specifically dedicated to this activity.
A summary of the equipment available is provided below:

  • Two dip-coating machines for preparing samples up to 50 cm.
  • Perkin Elmer LAMBDA 950 UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer equipped with Spectralon® integrating sphere (Figure a).
  • Perkin-Elmer Frontier FTIR spectrophotometer equipped with a gold-coated integrating sphere manufactured by Pike (Figure b).
  • LEICA DM4 M optical microscope with an image acquisition system and software for image analysis (Figure c).
  • QUV weathering chamber (Q-PANEL) for accelerated aging tests (Figure d).
  • Rotational Viscometer SELECTA.
  • BRUKER DektakXT stylus profilometer with an optical camera and surface analysis software (Figure e).
  • KSV CAM200 goniometer for measuring static contact angles (Figure f).
  • Two TABER abrasion machines (linear abraser and oscillating sand abraser) equipped with various abrasives.

Three kilns for thermal treatments:

  • 120 x 100 x 300 mm kiln with a maximum temperature of 1200°C.
  • Controlled atmosphere kiln with a maximum temperature of 800°C.
  • 500 x 400 x 600 mm forced convection kiln with a maximum temperature of 550°C.
(a)(b)
(c)(d)
(e)(f)
Advanced optical coatings laboratories equipment.