Thermophotovoltaics (TPV) is the process by which photons radiated from a thermal emitter are converted into electrical power via a photovoltaic cell. Selective thermal emitters that can survive at temperatures at or above $\sim 1000°\mathrm{C}$ have the potential to greatly improve the efficiency of TPV energy conversion by restricting the emission of photons with energies below the photovoltaic (PV) cell bandgap energy. In this work, we demonstrated TPV energy conversion using a high-temperature selective emitter, dielectric filter, and 0.6 eV ${\mathrm{In}}_{0.68}{\mathrm{Ga}}_{0.32}\mathrm{As}$ photovoltaic cell. We fabricated a passivated platinum and alumina frequency-selective surface by conventional stepper lithography. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of TPV energy conversion using a metamaterial emitter. The emitter was heated to $>1000°\mathrm{C}$, and converted electrical power was measured. After accounting for geometry, we demonstrated a thermal-to-electrical power conversion efficiency of $24.1\pm 0.9\%$ at 1055°C. We separately modeled our system consisting of a selective emitter, dielectric filter, and PV cell and found agreement with our measured efficiency and power to within 1%. Our results indicate that high-efficiency TPV generators are possible and are candidates for remote power generation, combined heat and power, and heat-scavenging applications.

中文翻译：

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通过超材料选择性发射极实现高效的热光伏能量转换

热光电（TPV）是一种过程，通过该过程，从热发射器辐射的光子会通过光伏电池转换为电能。可以在高于或等于温度的温度下存活的选择性热辐射器$〜1000°\mathrm{C}$通过限制能量低于光伏（PV）电池带隙能量的光子的发射，具有极大提高TPV能量转换效率的潜力。在这项工作中，我们演示了使用高温选择性发射极，介电滤波器和0.6 eV的TPV能量转换${在}_{0.68}{嘎}_{0.32}\mathrm{作为}$光伏电池。我们通过常规的步进光刻技术制备了钝化的铂和氧化铝频率选择表面。据我们所知，这是使用超材料发射器进行TPV能量转换的第一个演示。发射器被加热到$>1000°\mathrm{C}$，并且测量了转换的电能。在考虑了几何形状之后，我们证明了热电功率转换效率为$24.1\pm 0.9％$在1055°C下。我们分别对由选择性发射极，介电滤波器和PV电池组成的系统进行了建模，发现与我们测得的效率和功率在1％以内的一致性。我们的结果表明，高效的TPV发电机是可能的，并且是远程发电，热电联产和除热应用的候选产品。