Design and fabrication of nanostructured photothermal interfaces for hybrid energy devices
Conception et fabrication d'interfaces photothermiques nanostructurées pour systèmes énergétique hybrides
Résumé
The conversion efficiency of conventional solar cells is limited by the intrinsic properties of the semiconductor material that absorb photons with energy above its bandgap. In standard solar cells, photons from UV to visible light are absorbed, and the infrared spectrum of the sun is thus not used. One route to enhance the conversion efficiency of conventional solar cells is to harvest the near-infrared and infrared solar spectrum. To do so, we have investigated the combination of a hybrid energy device combining a photovoltaic cell and a thermoelectric generator.