Bifacial Thermophotovoltaic Energy Conversion

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 outband energy photons. Efficiencies over 50% could be theoretically attainable by approaching a mirror reflectance of 100%. However, the very few percent of outband absorption significantly deteriorate the conversion efficiency, especially at low emitter temperatures. Thus, current research focuses on developing advance mirror designs able to reach an extreme high outband reflectance over 95%. In this article I propose a bifacial TPV cell that enables very efficient photon recycling without using mirrors and that is less sensitive to outband optical losses. The key to this design is that the cell is introduced in a thermal emitter enclosure where it is irradiated from both sides. Then, outband photons transmit through the cell and are reabsorbed in the emitter. Therefore, the optical losses linked to the mirror/cell interface are eliminated, potentially enabling higher photon recycling efficiencies. This article presents a detailed balance simulation of an edge-cooled bifacial TPV cell to demonstrate that bifacial configuration enables higher conversion efficiencies and twice much as power density than monofacial designs, the latter being an advantage for moderate temperature and low-cost TPV power generation. Therefore, bifacial TPV cells are appealing for developing practical high-efficient and low-cost TPV devices for power generation in an extended range of heat source temperatures.