Hot carrier-based near-field

thermophotovoltaics with energy selective

contacts
Cite as: Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 122203 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0143300
Submitted: 21 January 2023 • Accepted: 09 March 2023 • Published Online: 21 March 2023

Junyi Wang, Youlin Wang, Xiaohang Chen, et al.

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Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 122203 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0143300 122, 122203

© 2023 Author(s).
 Applied Physics Letters ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/apl

Hot carrier-based near-field thermophotovoltaics

with energy selective contacts
Cite as: Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 122203 (2023); doi: 10.1063/5.0143300
Submitted: 21 January 2023 . Accepted: 9 March 2023 .
Published Online: 21 March 2023

Junyi Wang,1 Youlin Wang,2 Xiaohang Chen,2,a) Jincan Chen,2 and Shanhe Su2,a)

AFFILIATIONS
1
Department of Physics, Jimei University, Xiamen 361005, China
2
Department of Physics, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

a)
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: chenxh@xmu.edu.cn and sushanhe@xmu.edu.cn

ABSTRACT
A model of the thermophotovoltaic device combining a near-field thermal emitter and a hot-carrier solar cell is established. The fluctuating
electromagnetic near-field theory for the radiative thermal transport and Landauer’s formula for the carrier extraction are introduced.
Expressions for the efficiency and the power output of the device are derived. How the voltage and the extraction energy of the energy selec-
tive contacts affect the performance of the device is revealed. The results show that the efficiency of the proposed device can be greatly
enhanced by exploiting the radiation between the emitter and the cell and extracting carriers through electron tunneling effects.
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0143300

In thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices, thermal radiation is uti-
lized to produce electricity.1–7 A TPV system basically consists of a
high-temperature emitter and a solar cell.8,9 At the lengths of a few
micrometers or less, evanescent waves allow radiative flux to exceed
Planck’s law of thermal radiation by orders of magnitude.10,11
Accordingly, numerous nanoscale studies are related to design high
performance near-field TPV (NFTPV) devices. For example, Svetovoy
and Palasantzas revealed that a graphene layer on the top of a dielec-
tric largely increases the absorption rate of incoming radiation and the
heat transfer.12 Feng et al. proposed a back gapped reflector structure
to reduce imperfect reflections at the semiconductor–metal interface.13
Inoue et al. demonstrated that an intermediate transparent substrate
could suppress the unwanted heat transmitting from the emitter to
the solar cell.14 Liao et al. proposed an innovative model of the
thermionic-enhanced NFTPV device and found that its maximum
efficiency is obviously larger than that of a one-stage device.15,16
Even though NFTPV devices show promising potential applica-
tions, major energy losses are still attributed to thermalization losses of
excited carriers and absorption losses of sub-bandgap incoming pho-
ton energy. Combining the third-generation solar cell with the
NFTPV device is potentially able to reduce the waste energy. One of
the schemes is to propose an intermediate-band-assisted NFTPV
device, where a two-step photon-absorption process enables the
absorber to assimilate a wider range of the solar spectrum.17 Hot car-
rier solar cells (HCSCs) offer a new type of third-generation solar cell
by slowing down the cooling of the hot carriers, and, thus, carriers are
extracted before energy losses due to their thermalization with pho-
tons.18,19 Under high concentrated solar light, the efficiency limit of a
HCSC can be larger than 85%.20 This article reports a first attempt to
combine the concepts of NFTPV and hot carrier solar cell. It is
expected that the energy conversion efficiency of thermal energy can
be greatly enhanced.
In this study, the model of a hot carrier-based NFTPV device
(HNTD) is proposed. The general theorems of the near-field heat
transfer and the transport of carriers through energy selective contacts
(ESCs) are introduced. The expressions of the efficiency and the power
output of the HNTD are deduced. How the voltage and the extraction
energy of the ESCs affect the performance of the device is disclosed.
The optimization problems of the system are discussed. Finally, several
important conclusions are summarized.
Figure 1 indicates the diagram of a HNTD, which consists of an
emitter including the hexagonal boron nitride (HBN) and a HCSC.
The HCSC is composed of an absorber with energy gap Eg and two
ESCs on both sides of the absorber. There is a vacuum space of dis-
tance d between the emitter and the absorber. In Fig. 1, TS and TH are,
respectively, the temperatures of the emitter and the photo-excited
carriers in the absorber, TC denotes the lattice temperature of the
absorber and the electrodes, Efe and Efh are, respectively, the quasi
Fermi levels of electron and hole carriers, Dl represents the energy dif-
ference Efe  Efh , Efn , and Efp are, respectively, the Fermi levels of the
cathode and anode, eV indicates the voltage multiplied by the elemen-
tary charge and is determined by the difference Efn  Efp , DE is the

Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 122203 (2023); doi: 10.1063/5.0143300 122, 122203-1
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing
 Applied Physics Letters ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/apl

1
where Hðx; TÞ ¼ hx is the Bose factor describing the distribution
ekB T 1
of photons at frequency x and temperature T, kB is the Boltzmann
constant, h is the reduced Planck constant, and j indicates that the
incident light is polarized parallel (p-polarizations) or perpendicular
(s-polarizations). hx0 is a discontinuous quantity, which is equal to
eV for x  xg and zero otherwise, where xg is the bandgap fre-
quency of the absorber. The transmission coefficients of the evanescent
and propagating waves are functions of x,8,21,23 i.e.,
h i h i
j j 2ib d
  Im r1 Im r2 e zv x
CEvan x; bk ; d ¼ j j 2ib d 2 ; bk > (3)
j1  r1 r2 e zv j c

and
  
j j
  1  jr1 j2 1  jr2 j2 x
CProp x; bk ; d ¼ j j ; bk < ; (4)
4j1  r1 r2 e2ibzv d j2 c
FIG. 1. The schematic diagram of the hot carrier-based NFTPV device (HNTD).
where Im½   is the imaginary part of the associated factor, c is the
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
energy difference of the extraction energy levels of electron and hole speed of light in vacuum, bk ¼ b2x þ b2y and bzv ¼ ðx=cÞ2  b2k
carriers, dE is the width of the ESCs, and e is one elementary unit of are, respectively, the amplitudes of the wave vector, which are parallel
positive charge. to and perpendicular to the planar interfaces, and the subscript
Photons emitted from the emitter are recruited by the absorber, i ¼ 1; 2 correspond to the parameter for the emitter or the absorber.24
which generates electron–hole pairs. The absorber is contacted with The amplitude coefficients of Fresnel coefficients16,21 at the interface
the cathode through the ESC for electron transfer and the anode p
through another ESC for the transfer of holes. The electron–hole pairs between the unit i and the vacuum gap ris ¼ bbzv b zi
and ri ¼ eeii bbzv b zi
zv þbzi zv þbzi

are eventually conducted to the external circuit for generating power. with ei being the dielectric function.
The following reasonable assumptions can be made based on the The emitter is made of the HBN with the dielectric function21,25
detailed balance analysis. All photons with energy larger than the
x2  x2L þ iCx
bandgap of the absorber are absorbed to induce one of the possible e1 ðxÞ ¼ e1 ; (5)
transitions. The radiative recombination is the only loss mechanism x2  x2R þ iCx
considered. The effects of Shockley–Read–Hall, Auger, and surface where e1 ¼ 4:88, xR ¼ 2:575  1014 , xL ¼ 3:032  1014 , and
recombinations have been neglected. The ESCs are Ohmic loss free. A C ¼ 1:001  1012 rad=s. It was assumed that the dielectric function
perfect mirror is put behind the absorber so that the radiation only of the absorber is given by Ref. 26.
escapes from the front surface.
The near-field radiation occurs when the characteristic wave- 8
< n; x < xg
length of the electromagnetic radiation determined by Wien’s dis-
e2 ðxÞ ¼ h  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi i2 (6)
placement constant is larger than the distance between the emitter : n þ ica x=xg  1 ð2xÞ1 ; x  xg ;
and the absorber.21,22 It can be divided into the evanescent wave
that is a surface wave propagating along a metal–dielectric interface
where n ¼ 3:51 and a ¼ 0:7  106 m1 are, respectively, the refrac-
and the propagating wave that is propagated as an electromagnetic
tive index and the absorption coefficient of the absorber.
wave. The net thermal fluxes QEvan contributed by the evanescent
The net photon flux taken by the absorber is expressed as
wave and QProp contributed by the propagating wave are, respec-
tively, expressed as ð1
1
ð JP ¼ dx½Hðx; TS Þ  Hðx  x0 ; TC Þ
1 1 p2 xg
QEvan ¼ 2 dxhx½Hðx; TS Þ  Hðx  x0 ; TC Þ " #
p 0 X ð1  
ð x=c
 
X ð1    Ce x; bk ; d bk dbk þ Cp x; bk ; d bk dbk :
 Ce x; bk ; d bk dbk (1) j¼s;p x=c 0
j¼s;p x=c
(7)
and
The HCSC assumes that the rate of the carrier–carrier scattering
ð1
1 in the absorber is much faster than that of electron–phonon thermali-
QProp ¼ 2 dxhx½Hðx; TS Þ  Hðx  x0 ; TC Þ zation.27 Therefore, the energies of photo-excited electrons and holes
p 0
X ð x=c  
reach distributions characterized by the lattice temperature TC smaller
 Cp x; bk ; d bk dbk ; (2) than those by the temperature TH . In addition, for the purpose of sim-
j¼s;p 0 plifying the computation, it is assumed that the effective masses of

Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 122203 (2023); doi: 10.1063/5.0143300 122, 122203-2
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing
 Applied Physics Letters ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/apl

electrons and holes are equal and the structures of the conduction and over the barrier, where m is the effective mass of the electron, kx is
valence bands are symmetry.28 When the center of the bandgap is the amplitude of ~ k x , and k0x is the threshold amplitude. We assume
taken as the zero-energy level, all the other energy levels can be mea- that the mean free path of an electron is greater than the width of the
sured from this position (Fig. 1). As a result, Efe ¼ Efh ¼ Dl=2 and ESC connected to the absorber and the electrode, meaning that an
Efn ¼ Efp ¼ V=2. electron travels through a distance without suffering a collision and
The recent advances in heterostructures allow us to design ESCs, the electron transport is ballistic. Thus, the electric current density
where carriers are tunneling between the absorber and the electrode flowing out of an electron reservoir through the ESC is described by
within a particular energy transmission window. It has been demon- Landauer’s equation34,35
strated in Refs. 29 and 30 that the effect of the electron tunneling can ð1 ð1 ð1   dkx dky dkz
be realized in a semiconductor nanowire with a double-barrier reso- Je ¼ 2e f Eð~ k Þ; l; T vðkx Þnðkx Þ ; (9)
nant-tunneling structure.29,30 The shape the ESC is able to be tuned by 1 1 0 2p 2p 2p
adjusting the barrier and well widths of the nanowire heterostructure. where the factor 2 is responsible for the spin degeneracy of electrons,
Moreover, it has been proved that the introduction of ESCs will reduce which should be considered in determining thennumber of states con-
the irreversible entropy production in carrier transport processes.31,32
For simplicity purposes, photon-excited electrons and holes are tained in the phase space, f ½Eð~ kÞ; l; T ¼ 1 þ exp ½ðEð~kÞ  lÞ=
assumed to flow through the ESCs before thermalizing with the lattice. ðkB TÞg1 denotes the FD distribution of electrons in the reservoir at
Moreover, the ESCs adopt two ideal rectangular transmission windows chemical potential l and temperature T, the dispersion relation
with width dE. The center energy levels of two windows for electrons Eð~
kÞ ¼ h2 ðk2x þ k2y þ k2z Þ=2m , and vðkx Þ ¼ hkx =m indicates the
and holes are, respectively, DE=2 and DE=2. Thus, the transmission
velocity of an electron moving along direction x.
probability of electrons is expressed as By adopting the energy space, Eq. (9) is rewritten as36
(
1 ðDE=2  dE=2  Ex  DE=2 þ dE=2Þ ð
e 1
nðEx Þ ¼ (8) Je ¼ nðl; T ÞnðEx ÞdEx (10)
0 ðEx  DE=2  dE=2; Ex  DE=2 þ dE=2Þ: 2ph 0
In Fig. 1, electrons in the absorber are characterized by the with
Fermi–Dirac (FD) distribution at electrochemical potential Efe and  
m kB T Ex  l
temperature TH . Electrons in the electrode follow the FD distribution nðl; T Þ ¼ log 1 þ exp  : (11)
ph2 kB T
at electrochemical potential Efn and temperature TC . The ESC with
quantum well structure only selects electrons in the longitudinal direc- By using Eqs. (10) and (11), the net electric current density
tion x perpendicular to the interface.33 through the ESC is given by
Figure 2 presents the wave vector space of an ESC, where kx , ky , ð
e 1
and kz correspond to three wave vectors of x, y, and z directions. Jnet;e ¼ ½nðEfe ; TH Þ  nðEfn ; TC ÞnðEx ÞdEx : (12)
When an electron has the kinetic energy Ex ¼ h2 k2x =2m in the longi- 2ph 0
tudinal direction larger than Ex0 ¼ h2 k0x 2 =2m , it is capable of climbing From the first law of thermodynamics, each electron leaving the
absorber carries away energy Ex þ kTH  Efe . An electron from the
electrode traveling through the ESC will dump energy Ex þ kTC  Efe
to the absorber. By using Eq. (12), the net heat flux density of the
absorber is expressed as
ð
1 1  
Qnet;e ¼ Ex þ kTH  Efe nðEfe ; TH Þ
2ph 0
 
 Ex þ kTC  Efe nðEfn ; TC Þ nðEx ÞdEx : (13)

Note that Jnet;h ¼ Jnet;e and Qnet;h ¼ Qnet;e , because it has been
assumed that the structures of the conduction and valence bands are
symmetry.
The conservation of particles requires
Jnet;e ¼ Jnet;h ¼ Jp =e: (14)
On the other hand, the conservation of energy leads to
Qnet;e ¼ Qnet;h ¼ QEvan þ QProp : (15)
As a result, the efficiency and the power output of the HNTD are,
respectively, expressed as
FIG. 2. The schematic illustration of Fermi sphere indicating electrons transmitted
by the ESC, where the transported electrons have momentums lying in the shaded g ¼ P=ðQEvan þ QProp Þ (16)
gray space (kx Pkx0 ). Note that the dispersion relation is illustrated in the momen-
tum space (kx , ky , and kz ) rather than in the Cartesian coordinate (x, y, and z). and

Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 122203 (2023); doi: 10.1063/5.0143300 122, 122203-3
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing
 Applied Physics Letters
P ¼ Jnet;e V: (17)
In the following discussion, Eg ¼ 0:2 eV, TS ¼ 1800 K,
TC ¼ 300 K, dE ¼ 0:001 eV, d ¼ 10 nm, and m ¼ 0:1me with me
being the mass of free electron. Unless otherwise specified, these
parameter values are adopted. Figure 3(a) presents the electric current
Jnet;e as a function of V for a given extraction energy DE. In the regime
of small V, Jnet;e is independent of V, leading to a constant value of
Jnet;e . It is owing to the fact that the energy difference Dl in the
absorber lays in the value suppressing the radiative recombination
effect. Under this condition, most carriers are extracted through the
ESCs. In the regime of large V, a drastic drop in Jnet;e appears, because
a large number of photons are lost due to the radiative recombination.
Figure 3 also shows that the short-circuit current JSC monotonically
decreases with increasing DE, because fewer carriers are distributed at
higher energy levels. However, the open-circuit voltage VOC is a non-
monotonic function of DE. For the extraction energy DE less than
0.65 eV, the energy extracted per collected electron–hole pair is small,
resulting in a limited open-circuit voltage VOC . For an extraction
energy DE above 0.65 eV, the available energy in carriers is not suffi-
cient for all carriers to be extracted, resulting in limited JSC and VOC .
By increasing DE from 0.25 to 0.75 eV, an optimal value of DE is
found that maximizes VOC .
Figure 3(b) reveals the efficiency g as a function of V for a given
extraction energy DE. In Fig. 3(b), g increases with the increase in V
in the small-V regime (V < Vm ), but it decreases with the increase in
V in the large-V regime (V > Vm ), where Vm is the voltage at the
maximum efficiency. In the former, the power significantly increases
as V increases [Fig. 3(c)]. In the latter, a surge of excited electrons in
Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 122203 (2023); doi: 10.1063/5.0143300
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing
ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/apl
the absorber are recombined. This rate of radiative recombination
exceeds the growth of V, such that g diminishes. Comparing with
Figs. 3(c) and 3(d), one observes that the power output P decreases
faster than the net photon energy Qin in the region of V > Vm .
Therefore, both P and g reach zero at the open-circuit voltage. At the
same time, g can be maximized by optimally carefully choosing DE.
At DE ¼ 0:55eV, g approaches 54%, which is obviously larger than
the efficiency obtained by the NFTPV device with an intermediate
band in the absorber,17 a graphene-covered cell,26 or a GaSb-based
cell.37 As a result, hot carrier-based NFTPVs is capable of dramatically
enhancing the efficiency of heat conversion into electricity.
The existing studies of HCSC generate electricity by converting
energy from concentrated solar irradiation. In order to further show the
advantage of combining a near-field thermal emitter and a hot-carrier
solar cell, it would be more straightforward to compare the performan-
ces of NFTPV devices powered by thermal radiations of different inten-
sity. Thus, Fig. 4 plots the electric current efficiency g varying with the
voltage for different values of the distance d between the emitter and the
absorber. It is observed that the maximal g decreases by increasing d,
because the near-field radiative heat transfer is reduced.
In summary, based on the detailed balance principle and the
assumptions of ideal photon absorption and extraction processes, the
characteristics of a HNTD with ESCs are analyzed deeply. The electric
current and heat flux densities through the ESCs are calculated. The
obtained results show that one of the main energy dissipation mecha-
nisms to decrease the efficiency of HNTDs comes from the thermali-
zation loss in electrodes, which can be reduced by optimizing the
extraction energy levels of the ESCs. These results are helpful for
FIG. 3. (a) The electric current Jnet;e , (b)
efficiency g, (c) power output P, and (d)
net photon energy Qin ¼ QEvan þ QProp
assimilated by the absorber varying with
the voltage V for different values of DE.
122, 122203-4
 Applied Physics Letters ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/apl

DATA AVAILABILITY
The data that support the findings of this study are available
from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 122203 (2023); doi: 10.1063/5.0143300 122, 122203-5
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing