title: High-performance flat-panel solar thermoelectric generators with high thermal concentration.
abstract: The conversion of sunlight into electricity has been dominated by photovoltaic and solar thermal power generation. Photovoltaic cells are deployed widely, mostly as flat panels, whereas solar thermal electricity generation relying on optical concentrators and mechanical heat engines is only seen in large-scale power plants. Here we demonstrate a promising flat-panel solar thermal to electric power conversion technology based on the Seebeck effect and high thermal concentration, thus enabling wider applications. The developed solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) achieved a peak efficiency of 4.6% under AM1.5G (1 kW m(-2)) conditions. The efficiency is 7-8 times higher than the previously reported best value for a flat-panel STEG, and is enabled by the use of high-performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials and spectrally-selective solar absorbers in an innovative design that exploits high thermal concentration in an evacuated environment. Our work opens up a promising new approach which has the potential to achieve cost-effective conversion of solar energy into electricity.
authors.affiliation: Mechanical Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kraemer
authors.forename: Bed
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Poudel
authors.forename: Hsien-Ping
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: J Christopher
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Caylor
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Dezhi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muto
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McEnaney
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chiesa
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen