Near-field thermophotovoltaic energy conversion

We report a quantitative model of a near-field thermophotovoltaic (TPV) device consisting in a thermal source located in the near field of a TPV cell. The enhanced radiative transfer at short distance leads to an increase of the photogeneration current. We analyze quantitatively other potential near-field effects, in particular, on the dark current. We also study the influence of the modification of the spectrum of the sources in the near field, comparing the case of a tungsten source with the case of a quasimonochromatic source. Our model leads to a quantitative evaluation of the near-field TPV device output electric power and efficiency. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.