Performance comparison between photovoltaic and thermoradiative devices

Lin, Chungwei; Wang, Bingnan; Teo, Koon Hoo; Zhang, Zhuomin

doi:10.1063/1.5004651

Title: Performance comparison between photovoltaic and thermoradiative devices

Journal Article · Wed Dec 27 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5004651· OSTI ID:1540129

Lin, Chungwei ^[1]; Wang, Bingnan ^[1]; Teo, Koon Hoo ^[1];

^[2]

Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Photovoltaic (PV) and thermoradiative (TR) devices are power generators that use the radiative energy transfer between a hot and a cold reservoir. For PV devices, the semiconductor at the cold side (PV cell) generates electric power; for TR devices, the semiconductor at the hot side (TR cell) generates electric power. In this work, we compare the performance of the photovoltaic and thermoradiative devices, with and without the non-radiative processes. Without non-radiative processes, PV devices generally produce larger output powers than TR devices. However, when non-radiative processes become important, the TR can outperform the PV devices. This conclusion applies to both far-field and near-field based devices. A key difference in efficiency between PV and TR devices is pointed out.

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Research Organization:: Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0018369

OSTI ID:: 1540129

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1414986; OSTI ID: 1594753

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 122, Issue 24; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 22 works

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Thermoradiative Cells Based on a p-type Cu3SbSe4 Semiconductor: Application of a Detailed Balance Model García, Gregorio; Fernández, Julio J.; Palacios, Pablo Journal of Electronic Materials, Vol. 48, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07485-z	journal	August 2019
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Title: Performance comparison between photovoltaic and thermoradiative devices

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