Entropic and Near-Field Improvements of Thermoradiative Cells

TL;DR

This paper explores spectral and near-field enhancements to improve thermoradiative cell efficiency, predicting significant gains through spectral photon selection and near-field photon extraction, with potential efficiency up to 20.4%.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining spectral photon selection and near-field coupling to enhance thermoradiative cell performance.

Findings

Maximum efficiency of 20.4% predicted for ideal InSb cells.

Near-field photon extraction can significantly increase power density.

Sub-bandgap and non-radiative losses reduce practical performance.

Abstract

A p-n junction maintained at above ambient temperature can work as a heat engine, converting some of the supplied heat into electricity and rejecting entropy by interband emission. Such thermoradiative cells have potential to harvest low-grade heat into electricity. By analyzing the entropy content of different spectral components of thermal radiation, we identify an approach to increase the efficiency of thermoradiative cells via spectrally selecting long-wavelength photons for radiative exchange. Furthermore, we predict that the near-field photon extraction by coupling photons generated from interband electronic transition to phonon polariton modes on the surface of a heat sink can increase the conversion efficiency as well as the power generation density, providing more opportunities to efficiently utilize terrestrial emission for clean energy. An ideal InSb thermoradiative cell can achieve a maximum efficiency and power density up to 20.4 % and 327 Wm-2, respectively, between a hot source at 500K and a cold sink at 300K. However, sub-bandgap and non-radiative losses will significantly degrade the cell performance.