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Title: High-performance near-field electroluminescent refrigeration device consisting of a GaAs light emitting diode and a Si photovoltaic cell

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5007712· OSTI ID:1470394
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

We consider a near-field electroluminescent refrigeration device. The device uses a GaAs light emitting diode as the cold side, and a Si photovoltaic cell as the hot side. The two sides are brought in close proximity to each other across a vacuum gap. The cooling is achieved by applying a positive bias on the GaAs light emitting diode. We show that the choice of GaAs and Si here can suppress the non-idealities for electroluminescent cooling purposes: GaAs has a wide bandgap with low Auger recombination, and Si is a non-polar semiconductor which leads to significantly reduced sub-bandgap heat transfer. We show that by using this configuration in the near-field regime, the cooling power density can reach 105 W/m2 even in the presence of realistic Auger recombination and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination. In addition, with photovoltaic power recovery from the Si cell, the efficiency of the device can be further improved. Our work points to the significant potential of combining near-field heat transfer with active semiconductor devices for the control of heat flow.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion (LMI)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001293
OSTI ID:
1470394
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1399295
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 122, Issue 14; Related Information: LMI partners with California Institute of Technology (lead); Harvard University; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 44 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (12)

Diffusion-driven GaInP/GaAs light-emitting diodes enhanced by modulation doping journal March 2019
Effect of interface recombination on the efficiency of intracavity double diode structures journal June 2019
Near-field photonic cooling through control of the chemical potential of photons journal February 2019
Near-field refrigeration and tunable heat exchange through four-wave mixing journal May 2018
Electroluminescent refrigeration by ultra-efficient GaAs light-emitting diodes journal May 2018
Response to “Comment on ‘High-performance near-field electroluminescent refrigeration device consisting of a GaAs light emitting diode and a Si photovoltaic cell’” [J. Appl. Phys. 122 , 143104 (2017)] journal March 2018
Thermophotonic cooling in GaAs based light emitters journal February 2019
Self-sustaining thermophotonic circuits journal May 2019
Parametric optimum design of a near-field electroluminescent refrigerator journal June 2019
Influence of photo-generated carriers on current spreading in double diode structures for electroluminescent cooling journal March 2018
Measuring the internal quantum efficiency of light-emitting diodes: towards accurate and reliable room-temperature characterization journal September 2018
Near-field refrigeration and tunable heat exchange through four-wave mixing text January 2017

Figures / Tables (6)