A bibliogrqdiy conruining 200 entries on thermophotovoltuic conversion of' energy hetwccn 1960 und 1995 hus been compiled. The entries ure categorized with respect to type und contents.
IN TROD UC TIONhermophotovoltaic-or TPV-conversion is the conversion of thermal radiation to electricity by means of photovoltaic cells. The thermophotovoltaic process was first suggested by Aigrain in T 1960 as a two-step process for conversion of heat into electricity. The first TPV converter was built by Werth in 1963 using germanium PV cells and a propane-fueled emitter at a temperature around 1700 K.Since then, over a hundred papers and reports have been published, most of them theoretical. The theoretical possibility of very high conversion efficiency has been calculated and pointed out in many papers. The optimism stemmed from the fact that crystalline silicone is transparent for photons with energies below the bandgap energy. Thus, if the back of the silicon TPV cell was coated with a highly IR-reflecting metal (like silver), long-wavelength photons could be reflected back to the emitter. In 1980, Swanson reported a measured TPV conversion efficiency of 29% using silicon PV cells and a 2300 K graybody source.Most of the work in the early 1980s envisioned TPV as a converter of radiation from an emitter, heated by concentrated sunlight, following the 1978 concept by Bracewell and Swanson. Many papers dealt with selective emitters or selectively reflecting filters as the means to increase TPV conversion efficiency. Also, other heat sources have been discussed over the years, such as radioactive sources for space or submarine applications. The need for very high temperatures in order to achieve good efficiency with a silicon cell-based TPV converter, however, caused interest in the process to decline in the following years.At present, there is a strong renewed interest in TPV. This is due to two recent developments: the development of low-bandgap thin-film PV cells, originally developed for regular solar PV applications in tandem with high-bandgap cells (see Coutts and Lundstrom, 1993); and the recent development of efficient selectively emitting fibrous emissive burners
