Integrated photonic crystal selective emitter for thermophotovoltaics

Zhiguang Zhou; Omar Yehia; Peter Bermel

doi:10.1117/1.JNP.10.016014

8 March 2016 Integrated photonic crystal selective emitter for thermophotovoltaics

Zhiguang Zhou, Omar Yehia, Peter Bermel

Author Affiliations +

Funded by: Department of Energy, Department of Energy via the Bay Area Photovoltaic Consortium, Semiconductor Research Corporation, National Science Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation

Journal of Nanophotonics, Vol. 10, Issue 1, 016014 (March 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JNP.10.016014

Abstract

Converting blackbody thermal radiation to electricity via thermophotovoltaics (TPV) is inherently inefficient. Photon recycling using cold-side filters offers potentially improved performance but requires extremely close spacing between the thermal emitter and the receiver, namely a high view factor. Here, we propose an alternative approach for thermal energy conversion, the use of an integrated photonic crystal selective emitter (IPSE), which combines two-dimensional photonic crystal selective emitters and filters into a single device. Finite difference time domain and current transport simulations show that IPSEs can significantly suppress sub-bandgap photons. This increases heat-to-electricity conversion for photonic crystal based emitters from 35.2 up to 41.8% at 1573 K for a GaSb photovoltaic (PV) diode with matched bandgaps of 0.7 eV. The physical basis of this enhancement is a shift from a perturbative to a nonperturbative regime, which maximized photon recycling. Furthermore, combining IPSEs with nonconductive optical waveguides eliminates a key difficulty associated with TPV: the need for precise alignment between the hot selective emitter and cool PV diode. The physical effects of both the IPSE and waveguide can be quantified in terms of an extension of the concept of an effective view factor.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Zhiguang Zhou, Omar Yehia, and Peter Bermel "Integrated photonic crystal selective emitter for thermophotovoltaics," Journal of Nanophotonics 10(1), 016014 (8 March 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JNP.10.016014

Published: 8 March 2016

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Cited by 24 scholarly publications and 1 patent.

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KEYWORDS

Waveguides

Photonic crystals

Photovoltaics

Optical coatings

Diodes

Crystals

Integrated photonics

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CHORUS Article. This article was made freely available starting 08 March 2017

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