Solar thermophotovoltaic system using nanostructures
- Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (US). Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering.
- Argonne National Lab., Argonne, IL (United States). Center for Nanoscale Materials.
This paper presents results on a highly efficient experimental solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) system using simulated solar energy. An overall power conversion efficiency of 6.2% was recorded under solar simulation. This was matched with a thermodynamic model, and the losses within the system, as well as a path forward to mitigate these losses, have been investigated. The system consists of a planar, tungsten absorbing/emitting structure with an anti-reflection layer coated laser-microtextured absorbing surface and single-layer dielectric coated emitting surface. A GaSb PV cell was used to capture the emitted radiation and convert it into electrical energy. This simple structure is both easy to fabricate and temperature stable, and contains no moving parts or heat exchange fluids.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1215666
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1391991
- Journal Information:
- Optics Express, Journal Name: Optics Express Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 23; ISSN 1094-4087; ISSN OPEXFF
- Publisher:
- Optical Society of America (OSA)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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