Design of selective absorber-emitter based on carbon nanotubes and tungsten for thermo-photovoltaic applications
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46842/ipn.cien.v28n1a07Keywords:
photonic crystal, thermionic emission, photoelectricityAbstract
In this research, the design of a thermophotovoltaic solar cell is formulated to increase energy efficiency through a photo-thermionic emission process. The proposed cell aims to transform sunlight into electrical energy assisted by an intermediate thermal process using nanostructured materials. Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes will act as efficient absorbers of sunlight to generate thermal carrier emission and elevate their temperature. The generated heat will be transferred by conduction to a tungsten photonic crystal with a periodic growth pattern that will selectively emit an energy spectrum which can be absorbed by a photovoltaic cell. The temperature change of the carbon nanotubes, in addition to exciting the photonic crystal, will serve to generate an electric current through the photo-thermionic effect. The addition of the photo-thermionic current to the photovoltaic current increases the energy efficiency of the cell by 4.8%.
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