thermophotovoltaic cells tagged posts

Renewable Grid: Recovering Electricity from Heat Storage hits 44% Efficiency

Renewable grid: Recovering electricity from heat storage hits 44% efficiency
To measure the power produced by his photovoltaic cells, Roy-Layinde holds a heat source held over the photovoltaic cell, which emits the infrared radiation that the cell converts into electricity. Wires connected to the photovoltaic cell run the electricity to a sensor that reads the voltage and amperage. Image credit: Brenda Ahearn, Michigan Engineering

Closing in on the theoretical maximum efficiency, devices for turning heat into electricity are edging closer to being practical for use on the grid, according to University of Michigan research.

Heat batteries could store intermittent renewable energy during peak production hours, relying on a thermal version of solar cells to convert it into electricity later.

“As we include higher fractions of renewables on the grid to reach ...

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Glowing Nanomaterial to drive new Generation of Solar Cells

Multilayer fishnet metamaterial. (a) Sketch of the structure. Thicknesses of MgF2 and Au layers are 45 and 30 nm, respectively. Thickness of Si3N4 membrane is 50 nm. Lattice period is 750 × 750 nm. Size of holes is 260 × 530 nm. (b) Experimentally measured transmission spectrum of the fishnet metamaterial. Inset shows a scanning electron microscopy image of the fabricated structure. (c) Effective refractive index of the fishnet metamaterial extracted for the normal incidence. The marked lines in b and c represent the wavelengths in the regions of elliptic dispersion (red), crossover optical topological transition (green) and hyperbolic dispersion (blue).

Multilayer fishnet metamaterial. (a) Sketch of the structure. Thicknesses of MgF2 and Au layers are 45 and 30 nm, respectively. Thickness of Si3N4 membrane is 50 nm. Lattice period is 750 × 750 nm. Size of holes is 260 × 530 nm. (b) Experimentally measured transmission spectrum of the fishnet metamaterial. Inset shows a scanning electron microscopy image of the fabricated structure. (c) Effective refractive index of the fishnet metamaterial extracted for the normal incidence. The marked lines in b and c represent the wavelengths in the regions of elliptic dispersion (red), crossover optical topological transition (green) and hyperbolic dispersion (blue).

Physicists have discovered radical new properties in a nanomaterial which opens new possibilities for highly efficient thermophotovolta...

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