Journal
NATURE ENERGY
Volume 1, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/NENERGY.2016.68
Keywords
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Funding
- Solid-State Solar Thermal Energy Conversion (S3TEC) Center
- Energy Frontier Research Center - US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences [DE-FG02-09ER46577]
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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.
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