Managing light and heat in high power density air-bridge thermophotovoltaics

非技术：开发低成本、可扩展的可再生能源是一项巨大的工程挑战，对社会有着深远的影响。热光伏（TPV）电池可以利用多种能源，包括太阳能和工业废热。当与热能储存结合使用时，这些装置提供了一种比电池储存成本更低的方法。虽然前景看好，但目前可用设备的效率远低于所需的水平。因此，需要在TPV技术上取得突破，才能将这项技术部署到可负担得起的电网规模能源中。该项目将使用一种新颖的“空气桥”架构，在降低成本的同时实现超过50%的效率。空气桥结构将最小化电池加热以及电损失。该技术的应用有望显著减少污染，其影响将广泛适用于轻型管理至关重要的各种技术。该项目将为底特律创新中心的一门新的跨学科课程奠定基础，并通过实践经验赋予多元化的学生群体力量。该课程将与面向底特律地铁地区资源不足高中学生的外展活动相结合，将STEM机会扩大到代表性不足的社区。技术方面：所提出的气桥电池结构的新颖性包括对带外辐射的近乎完全反射，通过光子回收增强输出电压，以及与生长基板再利用的兼容性。当后表面的反射率超过99%时，电池效率进入一个新的状态，它对电池的带隙和热发射器的温度几乎不敏感。该项目将促进这一制度的运作，扩大适用于TPVs的材料和热源的范围。该项目还将全面了解空气桥式热光伏的光电和热特性。描述空气桥细胞中的重组和热传输的模型将通过系统的实验研究进行验证。这些模型将允许设计高效电池，并将通过在线存储库提供给更广泛的社区。该项目将开拓制造多结气桥电池的技术，这些技术与重复使用昂贵的生长基质相兼容。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Nontechnical:Developing low-cost, scalable, and renewable energy sources is a grand engineering challenge with profound impact on society. Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells can take advantage of many energy sources, including solar energy and industrial waste heat. When used in combination with thermal energy storage, these devices offer an approach with lower costs than battery storage. Though promising, the efficiency of currently available devices is well below that needed. A breakthrough in TPV technology is therefore needed to enable deployment of this technology for affordable grid-scale energy. This project will use a novel “air-bridge” architecture to achieve efficiencies exceeding 50% while simultaneously lowering costs. The air-bridge architecture will minimize cell heating as well as electrical losses. Deployment of this technology promises to significantly reduce pollution and its impact will be applicable to a wide range of technologies where light management is critical. The project will lay the foundation for a new interdisciplinary course at the Detroit Center for Innovation and empower a diverse community of students through hands-on experiences. The course will be integrated with outreach activities to students from under-resourced high schools in the Detroit Metro area, expanding STEM opportunities to underrepresented communities.Technical:The novelty of the proposed air-bridge cell archicture includes near-complete reflection of out-of-band radiation, enhancement of output voltage through photon recycling, and compatability with reuse of growth substrates. When the reflectance of the back surface exceeds 99%, cell efficiency enters a new regime where it becomes nearly insensitive to the bandgap of the cell and the temperature of the hot emitter. The project will facilitate operation in this regime, broadening the range of materials and heat sources suitable for TPVs. The project will also provide a complete understanding of the optoelectronic and thermal properties of air-bridge thermophotovoltaics. Modesl describing recombination and thermal transport in air-bridge cells will be validated using systemic experimental studies. These models will allow for the design of high-efficiency cells and will be made available to the broader community through online repositories. This project will pioneer techniques for fabrication of multi-junction air-bridge cells that are compatible with reuse of the otherwise prohibitively expensive growth substrate.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.