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A hot-electron thermophotonic solar cell demonstrated by thermal up-conversion of sub-bandgap photons

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  • Daniel J. Farrell

    (Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), The University of Tokyo)

  • Hassanet Sodabanlu

    (Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), The University of Tokyo)

  • Yunpeng Wang

    (Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), The University of Tokyo)

  • Masakazu Sugiyama

    (Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo)

  • Yoshitaka Okada

    (Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), The University of Tokyo)

Abstract

The direct conversion of solar energy to electricity can be broadly separated into two main categories: photovoltaics and thermal photovoltaics, where the former utilizes gradients in electrical potential and the latter thermal gradients. Conventional thermal photovoltaics has a high theoretical efficiency limit (84%) but in practice cannot be easily miniaturized and is limited by the engineering challenges of sustaining large (>1,000 K) temperature gradients. Here we show a hot-carrier-based thermophotonic solar cell, which combines the compact nature of photovoltaic devices with the potential to reach the high-efficiency regime of thermal photovoltaics. In the device, a thermal gradient of 500 K is established by hot electrons, under Stokes illumination, rather than by raising the temperature of the material itself. Under anti-Stokes (sub-bandgap) illumination we observe a thermal gradient of ∼20 K, which is maintained by steady-state Auger heating of carriers and corresponds to a internal thermal up-conversion efficiency of 30% between the collector and solar cell.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel J. Farrell & Hassanet Sodabanlu & Yunpeng Wang & Masakazu Sugiyama & Yoshitaka Okada, 2015. "A hot-electron thermophotonic solar cell demonstrated by thermal up-conversion of sub-bandgap photons," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms9685
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9685
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