Titanium-nitride-based integrated plasmonic absorber/emitter for solar thermophotovoltaic application

Titanium nitride (TiN) as a refractory plasmonic material is proposed to be used as an angle-insensitive integrated broadband solar absorber and narrowband near-infrared (NIR) emitter for solar thermo-photovoltaic (STPV) application. By constructing TiN-nanopatterns/dielectric/TiN stack metamaterial, approximately 93% light absorption in a wavelength range of 0.3-0.9 mu m and near unit narrowband (Delta lambda/lambda similar to 0.3) emission in NIR (similar to 2 mu m) were demonstrated by numerical simulation. Keeping the excellent light absorption in the visible band, the emission wavelength can be easily tuned by patterning the top TiN layer into various subwavelength structures. This dual function attributes to the intrinsic absorption and plasmonic property of TiN. In such an integrated structure, broadband absorption and narrowband emission need to be balanced for an optimized power efficiency conversion. Detailed analysis has demonstrated that the STPV system based on this integrated absorber/emitter can exceed the Shockley-Queissor limit at 1000 K. (C) 2015 Chinese Laser Press