Selective Emitter for Solar Thermophotovoltaic Applications

Abstract

Selective Emitters (SEs) are the main components of solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) systems; they act as intermediate thermal radiation emitters to shape the incident solar spectrum to match the wavelengths useful for the PV cell. In this work, we present the design, optimisation, fabrication, and characterisation of an SE based on a multilayer design made of SiNx, SiO2, and TiO2 layers. The SE is optimised to work with PV cells based on III-V semiconductors, such as GaSb, InGaAs, and InGaAsS, the bests suitable for SPTV applications. The fabricated SE shows an emitter efficiency (ηSE) of 50% if matched with a PV cell with an energy bandgap of 0.63 eV.