With the increased demand for energy usage and the lack of sufficient renewable energy sources, this has led to a rise in CO_2 emissions. In turn, it causes global warming, therefore, to combat this issue, we must develop new sources of renewable energy.
One such technology is thermophotovoltaics (TPV), a technology that converts thermal energy into electricity using photovoltaic (PV) cells [1]. A TPV system consists of a heat source that will heat an emitter to high temperatures above 700°C, by using a variety of heat sources such as fuel from natural gas, biomass, or reusing wasted heat. Once it is heated up, the emitter will act like a filter and only emit photons at a specific wavelength. These photons will then be absorbed by a low bandgap photovoltaic (PV) cell of less than 1.0 eV to generate a current through the photovoltaic effect.
To prevent alteration of the material's optical properties caused by oxidation [2, 3], most TPV studies' system setups are under vacuum and with emitters that are not stable at high temperatures for an extended period. Here, we have created a TPV system that can accommodate selective emitters under air and at high temperatures for long-term stability. By using various ceramic compounds to help dissipate heat and prevent heating elements from localized heating, we also incorporated a thermal management system, which effectively dissipates unwanted heat from the PV cells, thus allowing the placement of PV cells as close as 3 mm away from the 1000°C emitter.