公开(公告)号：US11901473B2

公开(公告)日：2024-02-13

申请号：US17232243

申请日：2021-04-16

Applicant: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Inventor： Tobias Burger ,  Byungjun Lee ,  Dejiu Fan ,  Andrej Lenert ,  Stephen R. Forrest

IPC: H01L31/0735 ,  H01L31/0687 ,  H01L31/18 ,  G03F7/00 ,  H01L31/0232 ,  H01L31/0264 ,  H01L33/00 ,  C30B25/04 ,  C30B25/22 ,  H01L31/043

CPC classification number: H01L31/0687 ,  C30B25/04 ,  C30B25/22 ,  G03F7/0005 ,  H01L31/0264 ,  H01L31/02327 ,  H01L31/043 ,  H01L31/0735 ,  H01L31/1852 ,  H01L31/1896 ,  H01L33/0093

Abstract: To reach high efficiencies, thermophotovoltaic cells must utilize the broad spectrum of a radiative thermal source. One promising approach to overcome this challenge is to have low-energy photons reflected and reabsorbed by the thermal emitter, where their energy can have another chance at contributing toward photogeneration in the cell. However, current methods for photon recuperation are limited by insufficient bandwidth or parasitic absorption, resulting in large efficiency losses relative to theoretical limits. This work demonstrates nearly perfect reflection of low-energy photons (˜99%) by embedding an air layer within the TPV cell. This result represents a four-fold reduction in parasitic absorption relative to existing TPV cells. As out-of-band reflectance approaches unity, TPV efficiency becomes nearly insensitive to cell bandgap and emitter temperature. Accessing this regime unlocks a range of possible materials and heat sources that were previously inaccessible to TPV energy conversion.