Related papers: Maximal nighttime electrical power generation via …
The maximum efficiency for photovoltaic (PV) and thermoelectric generator (TEG) systems without concentration is investigated. Both a combined system where the TEG is mounted directly on the back of the PV and a tandem system where the…
Thermoelectricity is the direct conversion of temperature gradient to electric voltage, and vice-versa. There are several potential applications of thermoelectricity, ranging from clean noiseless cooling, to waste-power harvesting in…
Thermoelectric energy harvesters can have a much higher conversion efficiency by implementing quantum dots/wells between the high temperature region and the low temperature region. However they still suffer a limitation of the maximum…
We show that the maximum work that can be obtained from the thermal radiation emitted between two planar sources in the near-field regime is much larger than that corresponding to the blackbody limit. This quantity as well as an upper bound…
We report the design, elaboration and measurements of an innovative planar thermoelectric (TE) devices made of a large array of small mechanically suspended nanogenerators (nanoTEG). The miniaturized TE generators based on SiN membranes are…
Real-world passive radiative cooling requires highly emissive, selective, and omnidirectional thermal emitters to maintain the radiative cooler at a certain temperature below the ambient temperature while maximizing the net cooling power.…
We analyze the steady-state formalism for optimizing the cooling power of a thermoelectric refrigerator (TER), unifying the endoreversible and exoreversible approximations within one framework. Although the cooling power is non-optimizable…
The performance of a combined solar photovoltaic (PV) and thermoelectric generator (TEG) system is examined using an analytical model for four different types of commercial PVs and a commercial bismuth telluride TEG. The TEG is applied…
Most attention to improving vacuum thermionic energy conversion device (TEC) technology has been on improving electron emission with little attention to collector optimization. A model was developed to characterize the output…
Thin-film thermoelectric generators with a novel folding scheme are proposed for large-area, low energy-density applications. Both the electrical current and heat transfer are in the plane of the thermoelectric thin-film, yet the heat…
Accurate measurement of efficiency for thermoelectric generator (TEG) is of great importance for materials research and development. Approximately all the parameters of a material are temperature dependent, so we can't directly apply the…
We propose a solar thermal energy conversion system consisting of a solar absorber, a thermoradiative cell or negative illumination photodiode, and a photovoltaic cell. Because it is a heat engine, this system can also be paired with…
Heat is an inevitable outcome in energy consumption processes, as more than 65% of input energy is wasted as heat. If we can generate electricity from waste heat, it will help minimize the needs for fossil fuels in power plants and can…
Tellurium (Te) is an intrinsically p-type doped narrow bandgap semiconductor with excellent electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity. Bulk trigonal Te has been theoretically predicted and experimentally demonstrated to be an…
A new approach is introduced to significantly improve the performance of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems by using low-dimensional thermal emitters and photovoltaic (PV) cells. By reducing the thickness of both the emitter and the PV cell,…
Thermoelectric generation (TEG) has increasingly drawn attention for being environmentally friendly. A few researches have focused on improving TEG efficiency at the system level on vehicle radiators. The most recent reconfiguration…
Electrical power generation from a moderate temperature thermal source by means of direct conversion of infrared radiation is important and highly desirable for energy harvesting from waste heat and micropower applications. Here, we…
Thermoelectric power generators are used to convert heat into electricity. Like any other heat engine, the performance of a thermoelectric generator increases as the temperature difference on the sides increases. It is generally assumed…
Over the past years, thermionic energy conversion (TEC) with a reduced inter-electrode vacuum gap has been studied as an effective way to mitigate a large potential barrier due to space charge accumulation. However, existing theoretical…
A thermoelectric device is a heat engine that directly converts heat into electricity. Many materials with a high figure of merit ZT have been discovered in anticipation of a high thermoelectric efficiency. However, there has been a lack of…