The design and numerical analysis of tandem thermophotovoltaic cells

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/22/10/108402

Abstract In this paper, numerical analysis of GaSb (E_g=0.72 eV)/Ga_0.84In_0.16As_0.14Sb_0.86 (E_g=0.53 eV) tandem thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells is carried out by using Silvaco/Atlas software. In the tandem cells, a GaSb p–n homojunction is used for the top cell and a GaInAsSb p–n homojunction for the bottom cell. A heavily doped GaSb tunnel junction connects the two sub-cells together. The simulations are carried out at a radiator temperature of 2000 K and a cell temperature of 300 K. The radiation photons are injected from the top of the tandem cells. Key properties of the single-and dual-junction TPV cells, including I–V characteristic, maximum output power (P_max), open-circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current (I_sc), etc. are presented. The effects of the sub-cell thickness and carrier concentration on the key properties of tandem cells are investigated. A comparison of the dual-TPV cells with GaSb and GaInAsSb single junction cells shows that the P_max of tandem cells is almost twice as great as that of the single-junction cells.

Keywords: numerical simulation GaSb-based compounds tandem thermophotovoltaic cell maximum output power

Received: 04 May 2013
Revised: 06 June 2013
Accepted manuscript online:

PACS:	84.60.Jt	(Photoelectric conversion)
	02.60.-x	(Numerical approximation and analysis)
	85.60.Bt	(Optoelectronic device characterization, design, and modeling)
	71.55.Eq	(III-V semiconductors)

Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61076010) and the Project of State Key Laboratory on Integrated Optoelectronics (Grant No. IOSKL2012ZZ13).

Corresponding Authors: Zhang Yuan-Tao, Zhang Bao-Lin
E-mail: zhangyt@jlu.edu.cn;zbl@jlu.edu.cn

Cite this article:

Yang Hao-Yu (杨皓宇), Liu Ren-Jun (刘仁俊), Wang Lian-Kai (王连锴), Lü You (吕游), Li Tian-Tian (李天天), Li Guo-Xing (李国兴), Zhang Yuan-Tao (张源涛), Zhang Bao-Lin (张宝林) The design and numerical analysis of tandem thermophotovoltaic cells 2013 Chin. Phys. B 22 108402

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