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DOE OSTI · 1899995

Efficient and scalable GaInAs thermophotovoltaic devices

Tervo, Eric J.·France, Ryan M.·Friedman, Daniel J.·Arulanandam, Madhan K.·King, Richard R.·Narayan, Tarun C.·Luciano, Cecilia·Nizamian, Dustin P.·Johnson, Benjamin A.·Young, Alexandra R.·Kuritzky, Leah Y.·Perl, Emmett E.·Limpinsel, Moritz·Kayes, Brendan M.·Ponec, Andrew J.·Bierman, David M.·Briggs, Justin A.·Steiner, Myles A.
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Abstract

We report thermophotovoltaics are promising solid-state energy converters for a variety of applications such as grid-scale energy storage, concentrating solar-thermal power, and waste-heat recovery. Here, we report the design, fabrication, and testing of large area (0.8 cm 2 ), scalable, single-junction 0.75-eV GaInAs thermophotovoltaic devices reaching an efficiency of 38.8% +/- 2.0% and an electrical power density of 3.78 W/cm 2 at an emitter temperature of 1,850 °C. Reaching such a high emitter temperature and power density without sacrificing efficiency is a direct result of combining good spectral management with an optimized cell architecture, excellent material quality, and low series resistance. Importantly, fabrication of 12 high-performing devices on a 2-in wafer is shown to be repeatable, and the cell design can be readily transferred to commercial epitaxy on even larger wafers. Further improvements in efficiency can be obtained by using a multijunction architecture, illustrated by early results for a two-junction 0.84-eV GaInPAs/0.75-eV GaInAs device.

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14 SOLAR ENERGY36 MATERIALS SCIENCEIII-V semiconductorenergyphotovoltaicthermal radiationthermophotovoltaic

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Tervo, Eric J., France, Ryan M., Friedman, Daniel J., Arulanandam, Madhan K., King, Richard R., Narayan, Tarun C., Luciano, Cecilia, Nizamian, Dustin P., Johnson, Benjamin A., Young, Alexandra R., Kuritzky, Leah Y., Perl, Emmett E., Limpinsel, Moritz, Kayes, Brendan M., Ponec, Andrew J., Bierman, David M., Briggs, Justin A., Steiner, Myles A.. 2022-10-28. Efficient and scalable GaInAs thermophotovoltaic devices. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2022.10.002

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