Title: Suppressing sub-bandgap phonon-polariton heat transfer in near-field thermophotovoltaic devices for waste heat recovery

Abstract

Here, we consider a near-field thermophotovoltaic device with metal as the emitter and semiconductor as the photovoltaic cell. We show that when the cell is a III-V semiconductor, such as GaSb, parasitic phonon-polariton heat transfer reduces efficiency in the near-field regime, especially when the temperature of the emitter is not high enough. We further propose ways to avoid the phonon-polariton heat transfer by replacing the III-V semiconductor with a non-polar semiconductor such as Ge. Our work provides practical guidance on the design of near-field thermophotovoltaic systems for efficient harvesting of low-quality waste heat.

Authors:

Chen, Kaifeng ^[1]; Santhanam, Parthiban ^[2]; Fan, Shanhui ^[2]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Applied Physics
2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Ginzton Lab.

Publication Date:

Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015

Research Org.:

Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC), Washington D.C. (United States). Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion (LMI)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:

1370908

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1229655

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC0001293

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Applied Physics Letters

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 107; Journal Issue: 9; Related Information: LMI partners with California Institute of Technology (lead); Harvard University; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:

American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

14 SOLAR ENERGY; 42 ENGINEERING; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; solar (photovoltaic); solid state lighting; phonons; thermal conductivity; electrodes - solar; materials and chemistry by design; optics; synthesis (novel materials); synthesis (self-assembly)