Related papers: Thermoelectrical Field Effects in Low Dimensional …
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,…
A new thermodynamic limit for the open circuit voltage of solar cells that includes thermalization is obtained in terms of photon entropy. A simple graphical construction makes it possible to link this limit to the existing limits for…
Thermophotovotaics convert thermal radiation from local heat sources to electricity. A new breakthrough in creating highly efficient thin-film solar cells can potentially enable thermophotovoltaic systems with unprecedented high efficiency.…
Photovoltaic effect of double quantum dots under nonuniform light field intensity has been studied theoretically. Comparing with the traditional p-n type photovoltaic effect, the inhomogeneous light field provides asymmetric potential…
The paper considers a model for the solar cell as a mechanical open-cycle thermodynamic engine where the chemical potential is produced in an isochoric process corresponding to the thermalization of electron-hole pairs. Expansion of the…
We report on the observation of the quantum Hall effect at high temperatures in HgTe quantum wells with a finite band gap and a thickness below and above the critical thickness $d_\textnormal{c}$ that separates a conventional semiconductor…
An isolated single-junction solar cell's temperature in outer space depends only on its radiation exchange with its environment. We consider a cell with zero emissivity below its bandgap and unity above it -- an idealization so far…
Photonic innovation is becoming ever more important in the modern world. Optical systems are dominating shorter and shorter communications distances, LED's are rapidly emerging for a variety of applications, and solar cells show potential…
Heat resources of small temperature difference are easily accessible, free and unlimited on earth. Thermoelectric effects provide the technology for converting these heat resources directly into electricity. We present designs of…
We perform the quantum yields in a multi-band quantum dot (QD) photocell via doping an intermediate band (IB) between the conduction band (CB) and valence band (VB). Under two different sub-band gap layouts, the output power has a prominent…
Double quantum dots (DQDs) have emerged as versatile and efficient absorbing light devices owing to their more multiple adjusting parameters than the single QD's. Using the system-reservoir theory, tunneling effect on the quantum…
Large efforts in improving thermoelectric energy conversion are devoted to energy filtering by nanometer size potential barriers. In this work we perform an analysis and optimization of such barriers for improved energy filtering. We merge…
A huge amount of thermal energy is available close to material surfaces in radiative and non-radiative states, which can be useful for matter characterization or for energy devices. One way to harness this near-field energy is to scatter it…
Interference represents one of the most striking manifestation of quantum physics in low-dimensional systems. Despite evidences of quantum interference in charge transport have been known for a long time, only recently signatures of…
We theoretically investigate the interplay between the confinement length $L$ and the thermal de Broglie wavelength $\Lambda$ to optimize the thermoelectric power factor of semiconducting materials. An analytical formula for the power…
In this work, it is investigated the behavior of the efficiency at maximum power of a quantum dot molecule, acting as a device for photovoltaic conversion. A theoretical approach using a master equation, considering the effect of the energy…
The purpose of this work is to look for a practical structure for application of quantum dots (QD) in solar cells in order to enhance sub-band gap photon absorption. We focuse on a stack of strain-compensated GaSb/GaAs type-II QDs. We…
Silicon solar cells dominate the solar cell market with record lab efficiencies reaching almost 26%. However, after 60 years of research, this efficiency saturated close to the theoretical limit for silicon, and radically new approaches are…
Light management is of great importance to photovoltaic cells, as it determines the fraction of incident light entering the device. An optimal pn-junction combined with an optimal light absorption can lead to a solar cell efficiency above…
A p-n junction maintained at above ambient temperature can work as a heat engine, converting some of the supplied heat into electricity and rejecting entropy by interband emission. Such thermoradiative cells have potential to harvest…