Integrated near-field thermo-photovoltaics for heat recycling

Gaurang R. Bhatt (), Bo Zhao, Samantha Roberts, Ipshita Datta, Aseema Mohanty, Tong Lin, Jean-Michel Hartmann, Raphael St-Gelais, Shanhui Fan and Michal Lipson ()
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Gaurang R. Bhatt: Columbia University
Bo Zhao: Stanford University
Samantha Roberts: Columbia University
Ipshita Datta: Columbia University
Aseema Mohanty: Columbia University
Tong Lin: Columbia University
Jean-Michel Hartmann: Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, LETI
Raphael St-Gelais: University of Ottawa
Shanhui Fan: Stanford University
Michal Lipson: Columbia University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Energy transferred via thermal radiation between two surfaces separated by nanometer distances can be much larger than the blackbody limit. However, realizing a scalable platform that utilizes this near-field energy exchange mechanism to generate electricity remains a challenge. Here, we present a fully integrated, reconfigurable and scalable platform operating in the near-field regime that performs controlled heat extraction and energy recycling. Our platform relies on an integrated nano-electromechanical system that enables precise positioning of a thermal emitter within nanometer distances from a room-temperature germanium photodetector to form a thermo-photovoltaic cell. We demonstrate over an order of magnitude enhancement of power generation (Pgen ~ 1.25 μWcm−2) in our thermo-photovoltaic cell by actively tuning the gap between a hot-emitter (TE ~ 880 K) and the cold photodetector (TD ~ 300 K) from ~ 500 nm down to ~ 100 nm. Our nano-electromechanical system consumes negligible tuning power (Pgen/PNEMS ~ 104) and relies on scalable silicon-based process technologies.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16197-6

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