Solar thermophotovoltaics: Progress, challenges, and opportunities

Wang, Yang; Liu, Haizhou; Zhu, Jing

doi:10.1063/1.5114829

Cited by 73 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…These losses consist of the optical losses [34] such as the thermalization losses due to the bandgap energy being considerably smaller than the energy in emission spectrum [35]; non-absorption losses, due to the proportion of emission spectrum, reported to have an average value of 55% [36], having energy below the bandgap energy of cell; reflection losses, due to the photons being reflected from the top-most layer of TPV cell and not being reabsorbed by the emitter due to a large emitter-cell distance; and transmission losses due to absorption in the TPV cell's layers thicknesses [37,38]. Moreover, there are also radiative losses such as the emitter-to-cell loss caused due to the cell and emitter not being placed close enough and having a view factor below 1 [39]. Other losses such as radiative recombination losses, when the separated charge carriers recombine to release a photon, and non-radiative recombination losses, when the recombination results in phonon generation instead of a photon, are dependent on the cell material [40].…”

Section: B Losses In a Tpv Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency Enhancement of a Thermophotovoltaic System Integrated With a Back Surface Reflector

et al. 2020

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This work aims to investigate the various factors which may affect a thermophotovoltaic (TPV) system's performance, with a special focus on the importance of incorporating a back surface reflector (BSR), which enables below-bandgap photons' recycling. The possible extent to which common PV materials can be used in TPV applications is investigated by comparing them on a Planck distribution curve. The effects of varying BSR reflectivity, TPV cell's external quantum efficiency, and emitter temperature are investigated on the TPV module's efficiency using open-circuit voltage, empirical relations for fill factor, maximum voltage, and photogenerated current. It is shown that TPV applications require materials with smaller (e.g. 0.6 eV < Eg ≤ 0.74 eV) bandgap energy, e.g. In0.53Ga0.47As (0.74 eV), due to their high percentage of energy (> 26%) abovebandgap without a spectral control and a small difference between peak and bandgap wavelength. It is shown that the inclusion of a BSR (reflectivity = 1) results in an increase of 15% in TPV efficiency. The results show that by the collective changes of an added BSR, high emitter temperature (> 2000 K), and improved external quantum efficiency (EQE ≈ 1), the present TPV systems can attain efficiency values more than 30% which makes them a favorable prospective choice for Concentrated Solar Power.

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Section: B Losses In a Tpv Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency Enhancement of a Thermophotovoltaic System Integrated With a Back Surface Reflector

et al. 2020

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“…Presently, TPVs may be suitable for application in space exploration, which requires high specific power (W/kg) and remote power generation. 6 However, broader applications, such as distributed combined heat and power (CHP), [1][2][3] grid-scale energy storage, 4,5 waste-heat recovery, 7 and direct solar energy conversion, [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] necessitate improvements in cost and conversion efficiency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Present Efficiencies and Future Opportunities in Thermophotovoltaics

Burger

Sempere

Roy-Layinde

et al. 2020

Joule

150

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Despite the relevance of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) conversion to many emerging energy technologies, identifying which aspects of current TPV designs are favorable and where opportunities for improvement remain is challenging because of the experimental variability in TPV literature, including emitter and cell temperatures, cavity geometry, and system scale. This review examines several decades of experimental TPV literature and makes meaningful comparisons across TPV reports by comparing each energy-conversion step to its respective, experiment-specific thermodynamic limit. We find that peak reported efficiencies are nearing 50% of their thermodynamic limit. Emitter-cell pairs that best manage the broad spectrum of thermal radiation exhibit the best efficiencies. Large gains in peak efficiency are expected from further suppression of sub-bandgap radiative transfer, as well as improvements in carrier management that address bandgap underutilization and Ohmic losses. Furthermore, there is a noticeable practical gap between the leading material pairs and integrated devices, mainly due to a lack of scaled-up high-performance materials, which exposes surfaces to parasitic heat loss. Provided these challenges are overcome, TPVs may ultimately provide power on demand and near the point of use, enabling greater integration of intermittent renewables.

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“…(C) Solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) (adapted from Kraemer et al, 2016). (D) Solar thermophotovoltaics (STPVs) (adapted from Wang et al, 2019;Bhatt and GUPTA, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure, Optical Properties and Thermal Stability of All-Ceramic Solar Selective Absorbing Coatings: A Mini Review

Wang

2021

Front. Energy Res.

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Solar selective absorbing coatings (SSAC) harvest solar energy in the form of thermal energy. Traditional metal-rich SSACs like cermet-based coatings and semiconductor–metal tandems usually exhibit both a high solar absorptance and a low thermal emittance; however, metal nanoparticles can easily oxidize or diffuse at high temperature. Different from these SSACs, the all-ceramic SSACs can keep the superior optical performance at high temperatures by restraining oxidation and metal element diffusion. Besides, the facile and inexpensive fabrication of the all-ceramic SSACs makes it possible for commercial applications. These SSACs are usually a regular combination of transition-metal carbides and nitrides, which show great thermal stability and optical properties simultaneously. The structure design of the SSACs will affect the element diffusion, element oxidation, phase transition, as well as the spectral selectivity obviously. In this article, we review the structure designs of all-ceramic SSACs, and the optical properties and thermal stability of the all-ceramic SSACs in the latest literature are also compared. The purpose of this review is to identify the optimal structure design of the all-ceramic SSAC, and we also present an outlook for the structure design strategy for all-ceramic SSACs with high photothermal conversion efficiency and thermal stability.

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Solar thermophotovoltaics: Progress, challenges, and opportunities

Cited by 73 publications

References 51 publications

Efficiency Enhancement of a Thermophotovoltaic System Integrated With a Back Surface Reflector

Efficiency Enhancement of a Thermophotovoltaic System Integrated With a Back Surface Reflector

Present Efficiencies and Future Opportunities in Thermophotovoltaics

Structure, Optical Properties and Thermal Stability of All-Ceramic Solar Selective Absorbing Coatings: A Mini Review

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