Journal
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS
Volume 124, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
AMER INST PHYSICS
DOI: 10.1063/1.5030904
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- National Science Foundation (NSF) [DMR-1608224]
- NSF [DMR-1229678]
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We report on a comparative study of narrow-bandgap (similar to 0.2 eV at 300 K) thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices with InAs/GaSb type-II superlattice absorbers. By comparing the characteristics of three narrow bandgap TPV structures with a single absorber or multiple discrete absorbers, it is clearly demonstrated that the device performance of a conventional single-absorber TPV cell is limited mainly by the small collection efficiency associated with a relatively short diffusion length (1.5 mu m at 300 K). Furthermore, this study revealed that multi-stage interband cascade (IC) TPV structures with thin individual absorbers can circumvent the diffusion length limitation and are capable of achieving a collection efficiency approaching 100% for photo-generated carriers. Additionally, the open-circuit voltage, the fill factor, the output power, and the power conversion efficiency can be significantly increased in IC TPV devices compared to the conventional single-absorber TPV structure. These results have further validated the potential and advantages of narrow bandgap IC structures for TPV cells. Published by AIP Publishing.
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