High-Temperature Metamaterial Emitter For Thermophotovoltaics

Combustion thermophotovoltaics (TPV) has the potential to achieve power and energy densities five to ten times that of rechargeable batteries. To date, however, TPV converter devices have not become commercially viable due to their low conversion efficiencies. The poor conversion efficiencies are primarily attributed to a mismatch between the bandgap of the TPV diode and the spectrum of the emitter. This program will address this deficit by demonstrating a TPV conversion efficiency >30%. The key innovation to achieving this significant efficiency boost over the current state of the art lies in the development of a novel high temperature emitter material whose emissivity is engineered to closely match the spectral response of the TPV diode. In this program Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) and our STTR partner Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) will demonstrate a cost-effective selective emitter that operates at high temperature combined with state of the art thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) cells to demonstrate a TPV conversion efficiency approaching 40%.