IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v1y2016i6d10.1038_nenergy.2016.68.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhanced photovoltaic energy conversion using thermally based spectral shaping

Author

Listed:
  • David M. Bierman

    (Device Research Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Andrej Lenert

    (Device Research Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    University of Michigan)

  • Walker R. Chan

    (Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Bikram Bhatia

    (Device Research Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Ivan Celanović

    (Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Marin Soljačić

    (Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Evelyn N. Wang

    (Device Research Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Solar thermophotovoltaic devices have the potential to enhance the performance of solar energy harvesting by converting broadband sunlight to narrow-band thermal radiation tuned for a photovoltaic cell. A direct comparison of the operation of a photovoltaic with and without a spectral converter is the most critical indicator of the promise of this technology. Here, we demonstrate enhanced device performance through the suppression of 80% of unconvertible photons by pairing a one-dimensional photonic crystal selective emitter with a tandem plasma–interference optical filter. We measured a solar-to-electrical conversion rate of 6.8%, exceeding the performance of the photovoltaic cell alone. The device operates more efficiently while reducing the heat generation rates in the photovoltaic cell by a factor of two at matching output power densities. We determined the theoretical limits, and discuss the implications of surpassing the Shockley–Queisser limit. Improving the performance of an unaltered photovoltaic cell provides an important framework for the design of high-efficiency solar energy converters.

Suggested Citation

  • David M. Bierman & Andrej Lenert & Walker R. Chan & Bikram Bhatia & Ivan Celanović & Marin Soljačić & Evelyn N. Wang, 2016. "Enhanced photovoltaic energy conversion using thermally based spectral shaping," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(6), pages 1-7, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:1:y:2016:i:6:d:10.1038_nenergy.2016.68
    DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2016.68
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nenergy201668
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nenergy.2016.68?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gao, Mingyuan & Cong, Jianli & Xiao, Jieling & He, Qing & Li, Shoutai & Wang, Yuan & Yao, Ye & Chen, Rong & Wang, Ping, 2020. "Dynamic modeling and experimental investigation of self-powered sensor nodes for freight rail transport," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    2. Cottrill, Anton L. & Zhang, Ge & Liu, Albert Tianxiang & Bakytbekov, Azamat & Silmore, Kevin S. & Koman, Volodymyr B. & Shamim, Atif & Strano, Michael S., 2019. "Persistent energy harvesting in the harsh desert environment using a thermal resonance device: Design, testing, and analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1514-1523.
    3. Tian Zhou & Zhiqiang Sun & Saiwei Li & Huawei Liu & Danqing Yi, 2016. "Design and Optimization of Thermophotovoltaic System Cavity with Mirrors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-11, September.
    4. Lin, Chungwei & Wang, Bingnan & Teo, Koon Hoo & Zhang, Zhuomin, 2018. "A coherent description of thermal radiative devices and its application on the near-field negative electroluminescent cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 177-186.
    5. Zhang, Ge & Cottrill, Anton L. & Koman, Volodymyr B. & Liu, Albert Tianxiang & Mahajan, Sayalee G. & Piephoff, D. Evan & Strano, Michael S., 2020. "Persistent, single-polarity energy harvesting from ambient thermal fluctuations using a thermal resonance device with thermal diodes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    6. Zhang, Tao & Li, Yiteng & Chen, Yin & Feng, Xiaoyu & Zhu, Xingyu & Chen, Zhangxing & Yao, Jun & Zheng, Yongchun & Cai, Jianchao & Song, Hongqing & Sun, Shuyu, 2021. "Review on space energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    7. J. Enrique Vázquez-Lozano & Iñigo Liberal, 2023. "Incandescent temporal metamaterials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Fangqi Chen & Xiaojie Liu & Yanpei Tian & Jon Goldsby & Yi Zheng, 2022. "Refractory All-Ceramic Thermal Emitter for High-Temperature Near-Field Thermophotovoltaics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-9, March.
    9. Sy-Bor Wen & Arun Bhaskar, 2023. "The Shockley–Queisser Efficiency Limit of Solar Thermophotovoltaic (STPV) Cells Using Different Photovoltaic Cells and a Radiation Shield Considering the Étendue of Solar Radiation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-13, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:1:y:2016:i:6:d:10.1038_nenergy.2016.68. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.