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Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Restricted Thesis: Campus only access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Physics
First Advisor
Dr. Mariama Rebello de Sousa Dias
Abstract
Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices, capable of converting thermal radiation into electricity, are a promising technology for decarbonizing the electrical grid. Challenges such as scalability, power output, and efficiency hinder their commercial viability. This research aims to enhance the design of TPV devices by optimizing a bilayer photonic thermal emitter that is simple to manufacture and stable at ultra-high temperatures, up to 2000ÅãC. A four-layer optical model was employed to optimize emitter designs by varying coating and substrate thicknesses and optimizing their operation temperature, and TPV cell bandgap, leading to improvements in TPV device efficiency. Two material pairs, AlN/BN and BN/AlN, exceeded the target efficiency of 60% at near the Si bandgap (1.12 eV) with a power output exceeding 1 W/cm2. Further optimization identified multiple AlN/BN designs aligned to the Si bandgap at 65.8% efficiency with 2.13 W/cm2. The AlN/W design balances high FOM (50.1%) with power output (7.27 W/cm2) with a PV cell bandgap matched to GaSb (0.73 eV) at 2000ÅãC. These findings represent a significant advancement in TPV technology, demonstrating that carefully engineered bilayer thermal emitters can achieve both high efficiency and substantial power output across different semiconductor platforms, potentially overcoming key barriers to the widespread deployment of TPV systems for clean energy generation.
Recommended Citation
Delsa, Paige, "Optimizing Bilayer Photonic Emitters for Enhanced Efficiency in Thermophotovoltaic Devices" (2025). Honors Theses. 1811.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/1811
