Thermophotovoltaic in-situ mirror cell
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorBrian C. Campbell
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Abstract
A photovoltaic cell used in a direct energy conversion generator for converting heat to electricity includes a reflective layer disposed within the cell between the active layers of the cell and the cell substrate. The reflective layer reflects photons of low energy back to a photon producing emitter for reabsorption by the emitter, or reflects photons with energy greater than the cell bandgap back to the cell active layers for conversion into electricity. The reflective layer can comprise a reflective metal such as gold while the substrate can comprise heavily doped silicon or a metal.
Claims19
A photovoltaic cell for use in a direct energy conversion thermophotovoltaic generator for converting heat to electricity, said generator including an emitter for emitting infrared photons which are received by said cell, said cell consisting essentially of:
- a plurality of single crystal infrared-sensitive active semiconductor layers having a low energy bandgap of about 0.75 eV or less;
- said active layers having a total thickness of about 3-10 micrometers;
- a substrate;
- and
- a reflective layer comprising a metal selected from the group consisting of gold, silver, platinum, copper, palladium, aluminum, and alloys thereof, said reflective layer being disposed within the cell between the rear-most of said active layers and the substrate for reflecting infrared photons of energy below the energy bandgap back to the emitter for reabsorption whereby and for reflecting infrared photons of energy greater than the energy bandgap back to the active layers for conversion into electricity.
A thermophotovoltaic cell consisting essentially of:
- a) a single-crystal, infrared-sensitive semiconductor active layer;
- said semiconductor active layer having a thickness of about 3-10 micrometers an energy bandgap of about 0.75 eV or less;
- b) a metallic, infrared-reflective layer adjacent to said semiconductor active layer;
- and
- (c) a substrate directly adjacent to said metallic layer, such that said metallic layer is positioned between said semiconductor active layer and said substrate.
A thermophotovoltaic cell comprising in sequence:
- a) a single-crystal, infrared-sensitive semiconductor active layer having a bandgap energy of about 0.75 eV or less, said layer comprising a p-type semiconductor next to an n-type semiconductor;
- b) a metallic, infrared-reflective layer adjacent to said semiconductor active layer;
- c) a substrate adjacent to said metallic layer, wherein said substrate is made from material selected from metals and semiconductor material;
- and
- wherein said active layer, said metallic layer, and said substrate are epitaxial layers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.