FURI | Spring 2019

Experimental Study of Solar Thermophotovoltaic Energy Conversion Enhanced with Selective Metafilm Coatings

A solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) system requires three key components to directly convert solar energy to electricity: a solar absorber, a hot emitter, and a thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cell. Recently, Prof. Liping Wang’s research group has successfully developed a highly-efficient selective metafilm coating to harvest solar energy from heat. The research has involved experimenting with the metafilm’s ability to act as an absorber. This was done by investigating STPV energy conversion with selective metafilm coatings by measuring the efficiency of metafilm enhanced STPV system with electrical, thermal and optical measurements. The goal is to enhance the STPV efficiency beyond 10%.