Iron-Only Metasurface Broadband Absorber for Solar Energy Harvesting

We investigated a metasurface broadband absorber composed entirely of iron and featuring a simple bilayer structure: a metallic iron substrate topped with an iron nanodisk-patterned layer. This absorber structure achieved over 90% absorption across the visible spectrum, with an average absorption of 97%. The designed metasurface structure had an aspect ratio of less than 1, which facilitated high-quality sample fabrication. In contrast to precious or rare metals typically utilized in visible broadband metasurface absorbers, this absorber offers a significant cost advantage. Furthermore, it exhibits polarization insensitivity and maintains a stable performance under oblique incidence over a wide angular range, making it suitable for practical applications. Additionally, the high melting point and favorable thermal conductivity of iron satisfy the requirements for solar harvesting and photothermal conversion devices. Therefore, this paper presents a highly efficient, low-cost, easy-to-fabricate, and operationally stable solution that is amenable to large-scale deployment in solar energy-harvesting devices.