Quantum well cells for thermophotovoltaics

Thin-film 'Thermal Well' Emitters and Absorbers for High-Efficiency Thermophotovoltaics.

A new approach is introduced to significantly improve the performance of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems using low-dimensional thermal emitters and photovoltaic (PV) cells. By reducing the thickness of both the emitter and the PV cell, strong spectral selectivity in thermal emission and absorption can be achieved by confining photons in trapped waveguide modes inside the thin-films that act as...

Radiative Limits in Quantum Well Solar Cells

Quantum wells enable solar cell bandgaps to be tailored to the theoretical optimum, under the assumption of unity absorption. In practice however, quantum well regions are thinner and hence absorb less strongly than bulk material. We predict detailed balance efficiency limits for varying levels of absorptivity in singleand double-junction quantum-well solar cells. These calculations allow us to...

Template-Stripped Plasmonic Films for Thermophotovoltaics

Summary: Template stripping is a simple and versatile process for creating smooth patterned films from various materials. We will discuss improved plasmonic performance for template-stripped metals and their use in thermophotovoltaic applications. Introduction: Template stripping utilizes the fact that coinage metals (e.g., silver, gold, and copper) will wet certain substrates but adhere poorly...

Numerical Modeling of Electronic and Electrical Characteristics of 0.3 0.7 Al Ga N / GaN Multiple Quantum Well Solar Cells

The present study was conducted to investigate current density of0.3 0.7 Al Ga N/ GaN multiple quantum well solar cell (MQWSC) under hydrostaticpressure. The effects of hydrostatic pressure were taken into account to measureparameters of 0.3 0.7 Al Ga N/ GaN MQWSC, such as interband transition energy, electronholewave functions, absorption coefficient, and dielectric con...

Optimisation of strain - compensated multi - quantum well solar cells