Huixu Deng, Tianchen Wang, Jie Gao and Xiaodong Yang
yangxia@mst.edu
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65409, USA
Huixu Deng et al 2014 J. Opt. 16 035102. doi:10.1088/2040-8978/16/3/035102
Received 16 September 2013, accepted for publication 2 January 2014, in final form 22 December 2013. Published 3 February 2014.
© 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd
Received 16 September 2013, accepted for publication 2 January 2014, in final form 22 December 2013. Published 3 February 2014.
© 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd
Metamaterial thermal emitters based on gold nanowire cavities on a gold substrate are designed to achieve a narrowband emission spectrum with the emission peak located slightly above the bandgap of photovoltaic (PV) cells, in order to improve the overall efficiency of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems. The metamaterial emitter made of gold nanowires embedded in an alumina host exhibits an effective permittivity with extreme anisotropy, which supports cavity resonant modes of both electric dipole and magnetic dipole. The impedance match between the cavity modes and free space leads to strong thermal emission with the desired frequency range slightly above the bandgap of PV cells. Simulation results show that the designed metamaterial emitters are polarization-insensitive and have nearly omnidirectional emission angles. Moreover, theoretical analysis predicts that the overall efficiency of the TPV system can reach Shockley–Queisser limit at a low emitter temperature of Te = 940 K.
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