Reply to post: The obvious question

MIT boffins turn black up to 11 with carbon nanotubes that absorb 99.995% of light

Milton

The obvious question

The obvious question—assuming that light is being trapped, internally reflected and ultimately turned to heat— seems to be: could this be the basis of an efficient solar heating system? No doubt it's so obvious that everyone and his penguin has thought of it. I'm a little intrigued by the notion of black-faced capillary tubes turning incident solar radiation directly into hot liquid, self-circulating through a baby turbogenerator for useful power ... but I wonder what the use case would be compared with the big, typically desert-based solar furnace systems that concentrate acres of sunlight into a boiler. Perhaps too niche and small-scale?

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