Ultraefficient Thermophotovoltaic Power Conversion by Band-Edge Spectral Filtering

Myles Steiner; Zunaid Omar; Gregg Scranton; Luis Pazon-Outon; Patrick Xiao; Vidya Ganapati; Per Peterson; John Holzrichter; Harry Atwater; Eli Yablonovitch

doi:10.1073/pnas.1903001116

Ultraefficient Thermophotovoltaic Power Conversion by Band-Edge Spectral Filtering

Myles Steiner, Zunaid Omar, Gregg Scranton, Luis Pazon-Outon, Patrick Xiao, Vidya Ganapati, Per Peterson, John Holzrichter, Harry Atwater, Eli Yablonovitch

Chemistry and Nanoscience

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

164 Scopus Citations

Abstract

Thermophotovoltaic power conversion utilizes thermal radiation from a local heat source to generate electricity in a photovoltaic cell. It was shown in recent years that the addition of a highly reflective rear mirror to a solar cell maximizes the extraction of luminescence. This in turn boosts the voltage enabling the creation of recordbreaking solar efficiency. Now we report that the rear mirror can be used to create thermophotovoltaic systems with unprecedented high thermophotovoltaic efficiency. This mirror reflects low-energy infrared photons back into the heat source recovering their energy. Therefore the rear mirror serves a dual function; boosting the voltage and reusing infrared thermal photons. This allows the possibility of a practical >50% efficient thermophotovoltaic system. Based on this reflective rear mirror concept we report a thermophotovoltaic efficiency of 29.1 ± 0.4% at an emitter temperature of 1,207 °C.

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	15356-15361
Number of pages	6
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	116
Issue number	31
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903001116 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903001116
State	Published - 30 Jul 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

NREL Publication Number

NREL/JA-5900-73229

Keywords

Energy
Photovoltaics
Solar
Thermophotovoltaics
TPV

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Steiner, M., Omar, Z., Scranton, G., Pazon-Outon, L., Xiao, P., Ganapati, V., Peterson, P., Holzrichter, J., Atwater, H., & Yablonovitch, E. (2019). Ultraefficient Thermophotovoltaic Power Conversion by Band-Edge Spectral Filtering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(31), 15356-15361. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903001116, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903001116

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abstract = "Thermophotovoltaic power conversion utilizes thermal radiation from a local heat source to generate electricity in a photovoltaic cell. It was shown in recent years that the addition of a highly reflective rear mirror to a solar cell maximizes the extraction of luminescence. This in turn boosts the voltage enabling the creation of recordbreaking solar efficiency. Now we report that the rear mirror can be used to create thermophotovoltaic systems with unprecedented high thermophotovoltaic efficiency. This mirror reflects low-energy infrared photons back into the heat source recovering their energy. Therefore the rear mirror serves a dual function; boosting the voltage and reusing infrared thermal photons. This allows the possibility of a practical >50% efficient thermophotovoltaic system. Based on this reflective rear mirror concept we report a thermophotovoltaic efficiency of 29.1 ± 0.4% at an emitter temperature of 1,207 °C.",

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Steiner, M, Omar, Z, Scranton, G, Pazon-Outon, L, Xiao, P, Ganapati, V, Peterson, P, Holzrichter, J, Atwater, H & Yablonovitch, E 2019, 'Ultraefficient Thermophotovoltaic Power Conversion by Band-Edge Spectral Filtering', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 116, no. 31, pp. 15356-15361. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903001116, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903001116

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AU - Scranton, Gregg

AU - Pazon-Outon, Luis

AU - Xiao, Patrick

AU - Ganapati, Vidya

AU - Peterson, Per

AU - Holzrichter, John

AU - Atwater, Harry

AU - Yablonovitch, Eli

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KW - Energy

KW - Photovoltaics

KW - Solar

KW - Thermophotovoltaics

KW - TPV

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Ultraefficient Thermophotovoltaic Power Conversion by Band-Edge Spectral Filtering

Abstract

Bibliographical note

NREL Publication Number

Keywords

UN SDGs

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