We report a metamaterial design for a thermophotovoltaic (TPV) emitter. TPVs are similar to photovoltaic solar cells, but they convert heat to electricity instead of sunlight. The focus of this paper is on the emitter stage of the TPV system, which converts the heat into a spectral band which is easily absorbable by the TPV photodiode. The proposed structure consists of a platinum metallic element, an alumina dielectric spacer, and platinum grounding plane on a sapphire substrate. This perfect absorber based metamaterial emitter is shown to robustly operate at 600 °C. This temperature is high enough to enable TPV use for many industrial applications.

We report the development of a front-side contact design for thermophotovoltaics that utilizes metallic photonic crystals (PhCs). While this front-side grid replacement covers more surface area of the semiconductor, a higher percentage of photons is shown to be converted to usable power in the photodiode. This leads to a 30% increase in the short-circuit current of the gallium antimonide thermophotovoltaic cell.

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