Journal
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Volume 5, Issue 10, Pages 9055-9067Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee22248e
Keywords
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Funding
- Department of Defense (DoD) through National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) Program
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at CSM (NSF-MRSEC) [DMR0820518]
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Solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) are solid state heat engines that generate electricity from concentrated sunlight. In this paper, we develop a novel detailed balance model for STEGs and apply this model to both state-of-the-art and idealized materials. This model uses thermoelectric compatibility theory to provide analytic solutions to device efficiency in idealized materials with temperature-dependent properties. The results of this modeling allow us to predict maximum theoretical STEG efficiencies and suggest general design rules for STEGs. With today's materials, a STEG with an incident flux of 100 kW m(-2) and a hot side temperature of 1000 degrees C could achieve 15.9% generator efficiency, making STEGs competitive with concentrated solar power plants. Future developments will depend on materials that can provide higher operating temperatures or higher material efficiency. For example, a STEG with zT = 2 at 1500 degrees C would have an efficiency of 30.6%.
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