title: Impacts of propagating, frustrated and surface modes on radiative, electrical and thermal losses in nanoscale-gap thermophotovoltaic power generators.
abstract: The impacts of radiative, electrical and thermal losses on the performances of nanoscale-gap thermophotovoltaic (nano-TPV) power generators consisting of a gallium antimonide cell paired with a broadband tungsten and a radiatively-optimized Drude radiator are analyzed. Results reveal that surface mode mediated nano-TPV power generation with the Drude radiator outperforms the tungsten radiator, dominated by frustrated modes, only for a vacuum gap thickness of 10 nm and if both electrical and thermal losses are neglected. The key limiting factors for the Drude- and tungsten-based devices are respectively the recombination of electron-hole pairs at the cell surface and thermalization of radiation with energy larger than the cell absorption bandgap. A design guideline is also proposed where a high energy cutoff above which radiation has a net negative effect on nano-TPV power output due to thermal losses is determined. It is shown that the power output of a tungsten-based device increases by 6.5% while the cell temperature decreases by 30 K when applying a high energy cutoff at 1.45 eV. This work demonstrates that design and optimization of nano-TPV devices must account for radiative, electrical and thermal losses.
authors.affiliation: Radiative Energy Transfer Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Bernardi
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, CNRS, INSA-Lyon, UCBL, CETHIL, UMR5008, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dupré
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, CNRS, INSA-Lyon, UCBL, CETHIL, UMR5008, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blandre
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, CNRS, INSA-Lyon, UCBL, CETHIL, UMR5008, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Pierre-Olivier
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Chapuis
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, CNRS, INSA-Lyon, UCBL, CETHIL, UMR5008, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Rodolphe
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vaillon
authors.affiliation: Radiative Energy Transfer Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Francoeur