Optimum selective emitters for efficient thermophotovoltaic conversion
Optimum selective emitters for efficient thermophotovoltaic conversion
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DOI：
10.1063/1.5131367
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发表时间：
2020-01-13
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Naik, Gururaj V.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hassan, Sakib;Doiron, Chloe F.;Naik, Gururaj V.
虽然热光伏（TPV）系统已经研究了几十年，但实际的转换效率仍然远远低于理论最大值。在这里，在这项工作中，我们研究了效率低的原因，特别是在采用选择性热辐射体的TPV系统中，并确定了通向高效率的设计途径。我们对TPV系统的光学和光电子组件进行了建模，并研究了在1000至2000 K的任何给定发射体温度下，发射体选择性对光伏电池的最佳带隙、散热器要求和最大转换效率的影响。我们的计算表明，对亚带隙发射具有至少20 dB抑制和100倍发射增强的热发射体可以将总效率提高到卡诺极限的70%。此外，我们还表明，对于使用难熔等离子体材料（如Mo， W, Ta， TiN和碳纳米管）的谐振热发射体来说，这种对抑制的极端要求达到了性能极限。
Though thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems have been studied for many decades, the demonstrated conversion efficiencies have remained far lower than the theoretical maximum. Here, in this work, we investigate the reason for low efficiency, especially in TPV systems employing selective thermal emitters, and determine design pathways toward high efficiency. We model both the optical and optoelectronic components of the TPV system and study the influence of the emitter selectivity on the optimum bandgap of the photovoltaic cell, heat sink requirements, and maximum conversion efficiency for any given emitter temperature from 1000 to 2000 K. Our calculations suggest that thermal emitters with at least 20 dB suppression of sub-bandgap emission and an emission enhancement of 100x can push the overall efficiency to 70% of Carnot's limit. Furthermore, we show that such an extreme requirement on suppression is at the performance limits for resonant thermal emitters employing refractory plasmonic materials such as Mo, W, Ta, TiN, and carbon nanotubes.