Thermophotovoltaic efficiency of 40
Thermophotovoltaics (TPVs) convert predominantly infrared wavelength light to electricity via the photovoltaic effect, and can enable approaches to energy storage 1 , 2 and conversion 3 – 9 that use higher temperature heat sources than the turbines that are ubiquitous in electricity production today...
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Published in | Nature (London) Vol. 604; no. 7905; pp. 287 - 291 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
14.04.2022
Nature Publishing Group |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Thermophotovoltaics (TPVs) convert predominantly infrared wavelength light to electricity via the photovoltaic effect, and can enable approaches to energy storage
1
,
2
and conversion
3
–
9
that use higher temperature heat sources than the turbines that are ubiquitous in electricity production today. Since the first demonstration of 29% efficient TPVs (Fig.
1a
) using an integrated back surface reflector and a tungsten emitter at 2,000 °C (ref.
10
), TPV fabrication and performance have improved
11
,
12
. However, despite predictions that TPV efficiencies can exceed 50% (refs.
11
,
13
,
14
), the demonstrated efficiencies are still only as high as 32%, albeit at much lower temperatures below 1,300 °C (refs.
13
–
15
). Here we report the fabrication and measurement of TPV cells with efficiencies of more than 40% and experimentally demonstrate the efficiency of high-bandgap tandem TPV cells. The TPV cells are two-junction devices comprising III–V materials with bandgaps between 1.0 and 1.4 eV that are optimized for emitter temperatures of 1,900–2,400 °C. The cells exploit the concept of band-edge spectral filtering to obtain high efficiency, using highly reflective back surface reflectors to reject unusable sub-bandgap radiation back to the emitter. A 1.4/1.2 eV device reached a maximum efficiency of (41.1 ± 1)% operating at a power density of 2.39 W cm
–2
and an emitter temperature of 2,400 °C. A 1.2/1.0 eV device reached a maximum efficiency of (39.3 ± 1)% operating at a power density of 1.8 W cm
–2
and an emitter temperature of 2,127 °C. These cells can be integrated into a TPV system for thermal energy grid storage to enable dispatchable renewable energy. This creates a pathway for thermal energy grid storage to reach sufficiently high efficiency and sufficiently low cost to enable decarbonization of the electricity grid.
Two-junction TPV cells with efficiencies of more than 40% are reported, using an emitter with a temperature between 1,900 and 2,400 °C, for integration into a TPV system for thermal energy grid storage. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 NREL/JA-5900-80222 USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) AC36-08GO28308; AR0001005; EE0008381; EE0008375 USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) |
ISSN: | 0028-0836 1476-4687 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41586-022-04473-y |