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We analyze the efficiency of thermal engines (either quantum or classical) working with a single heat reservoir like atmosphere. The engine first gets an energy intake, which can be done in arbitrary non-equilibrium way e.g. combustion of…
With the practical efficiency of the silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell approaching its theoretical limit, pushing conversion efficiencies even higher now relies on reducing every type of power loss that can occur within the device. Limiting…
In the present article, performance of a glazed photovoltaic thermal system integrated with phase change materials (GPVT/PCM) is numerically examined based on both energy and exergy viewpoints. The effect of PCM volumetric fraction and…
The condition for stationary engines to attain the Carnot efficiency in and beyond the linear response regime is investigated. We find that this condition for finite-size engines is significantly different from that for macroscopic engines…
Following the result by Skrzypczyk et al., arXiv:1009.0865, that certain self-contained quantum thermal machines can reach Carnot efficiency, we discuss the functioning of self-contained quantum thermal machines and show, in a very general…
Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy conversion efficiency has recently surpassed 30%. The key behind such high efficiency is the inclusion of a highly efficient mirror in the rear of the TPV cell that turns back to the thermal emitter the…
Perovskite photovoltaics has witnessed an unprecedented increase in power conversion efficiency over the last decade. The choice of transport layers, through which photo-generated electrons and holes are transported to the electrodes, is a…
Photon impingement is capable of liberating electrons in semiconductors. When the electron transport is primarily governed by temperature gradients, high irreversibilities will result, thus lowering converters' efficiencies. A fundamental…
The efficiency at maximum power (EMP) of irreversible Carnot-like heat engines is investigated based on the weak endoreversible assumption and the phenomenologically irreversible thermodynamics. It is found that the weak endoreversible…
Photovoltaics (PV) is the most important energy conversion technology for cost-efficient climate change mitigation. To reach the international climate goals, the annual PV module production capacity must be expanded to multi-terawatt scale.…
In this paper, we present a method for computing bounds for a variety of efficiency metrics in photonics, such as the focusing efficiency or the mode purity. We focus on the special case where the objective function can be written as the…
According to Thermodynamics, the efficiency of a heat engine is upper bounded by Carnot efficiency. For macroscopic systems, the Carnot efficiency is, however, achieved only for quasi static processes. And, considerable attention has been…
One way for solar cell efficiencies to overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit is downconversion of high-energy photons using singlet fission (SF) in polyacenes like tetracene (Tc). SF enables generation of multiple excitons from the…
Despite several different measures of efficiency that are applicable to the photosynthetic systems, a precise degree of efficiency of these systems is not completely determined. Introducing an efficient model for the dynamics of…
Hybridization of multi-junction concentrator photovoltaics with single-junction flat plate solar cells (CPV/PV) can deliver the highest power output per module area of any PV technology. Conversion efficiencies up to 34.2% have been…
Laser cooling of rare-earth doped solids has been demonstrated across a wide range of material platforms, inspiring the development of simple phenomenological models such as the four-level model to elucidate the universal properties of…
The selfconsistent model for the temperature dependence of photoconversion efficiency $\eta$ for highly efficient silicon solar cells (SCs) is developed. It is demonstrated that effect of the efficiency decrease due to increasing…
We rigorously apply the sum rules to the sum-over-states expression to calculate the fundamental limits of the dispersion of the two-photon absorption cross-section. A comparison of the theory with the data suggests that the truncated sum…
We study how much the efficiency of a solar cell as a quantum heat engine could be enhanced by quantum coherence. In contrast to the conventional approach that a quantum heat engine is in thermal equilibrium with both hot and cold…
Conventional photocells suffer a fundamental efficiency threshold imposed by the principle of detailed balance, reflecting the fact that good absorbers must necessarily also be fast emitters. This limitation can be overcome by `parking' the…