Near-field based thermoradiative device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10658968-B2
Application number	US-201815865450-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 9, 2018
Priority date	Mar 28, 2017
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

A thermoradiative device for generating power includes a thermoradiative element having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the thermoradiative element is a semiconductor material having a bandgap energy E g . The device includes a thermal conductive element having a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface is arranged to face the bottom surface of the thermoradiative element, and the first surface is a structured surface having a periodic structure, wherein the structured surface is separated from the bottom surface with a distance d to establish near-field resonance between the bottom surface and the structured surface. The device further includes supporters configured to bond the thermoradiative element and the thermal conductive element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermoradiative device for generating power, comprising:
a thermoradiative element having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the thermoradiative element is a semiconductor material having a bandgap energy;
a thermal conductive element having a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface is arranged to face the bottom surface of the thermoradiative element, wherein the first surface is a structured surface having a periodic structure, wherein the structured surface is separated from the bottom surface with a distance d to establish near-field resonance between the bottom surface and the structured surface; and
supporters configured to bond the thermoradiative element and the thermal conductive element.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first surface and the second surface are made from an identical material.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the periodic structure is formed based on striped lines separated from each other with a pitch P, wherein each of the striped lines has a length L and a cross-sectional shape represented by a height H and a width W.

4. The device of claim 3 , wherein the cross-sectional shape is rectangular having the height H and the width W.

5. The device of claim 4 , wherein the thermoradiative element is made from indium arsenide (InAs), wherein the cross-sectional shape is represented by the height H=60 nm and the width W=30 nm, wherein the pitch P=60 nm and the distance d=10 nm.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first surface and the second surface are made from a plasmonic material.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the plasmonic material is zirconium carbide (ZrC).

8. The device of claim 1 , further comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein the thermoradiative element includes a p-type layer and an n-type layer to form a p-n junction, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are connected to the p-type layer and the n-type layer, respectively.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the periodic structure is formed based on lines separated with a pitch P, wherein each of the lines has a length L and an approximately round shaped cross-section represented by a height H, a width W.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the thermoradiative element includes a back layer on the top surface, wherein the back layer is directly contacted with a heat source.

11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the thermoradiative element includes a front layer on the bottom surface and a back layer on the top surface, wherein the back layer is directly contacted with a heat source.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein a material of the front layer is identical to a material of the back layer.

13. The device of claim 1 , wherein each of the supporters is a cylinder with a diameter of approximately 1 pm and a height in a range from ten to hundreds of nanometers, wherein the supporters are apart from each other by a distance equal to or less than 500 pm.

14. The device of claim 1 , wherein a material of each of the supporters is silicon dioxide.

15. The device of claim 1 , wherein the bandgap energy of the semiconductor material is approximately 0.3 eV or less than 0.3 eV.

16. The device of claim 1 , wherein the structured surface has an energy of a surface resonance mode being close to the bandgap energy of the thermoradiative element for enhancing the near-field resonance.

17. A method for generating power, comprising:
providing a thermoradiative element having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the thermoradiative element is a semiconductor material having a bandgap energy; and
placing a thermal conductive element having a first surface and a second surface in parallel to the thermoradiative element, wherein the first surface is arranged to face the bottom surface of the thermoradiative element, wherein the first surface is a structured surface having a periodic structure, wherein the structured surface is separated from the bottom surface with a distance d to establish near-field resonance between the bottom surface and the structured surface.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first surface and the second surface are made from an identical material.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Res Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• Wang Bingnan
• Lin Chungwei
• Teo Koon Hoo

Classifications

• Y02E10/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] energy · CPC title

• H02S10/30 Primary

  Thermophotovoltaic systems (photovoltaic cells specially adapted for conversion or sensing of infrared [IR] radiation H10F10/00; thermoelectric devices H10N10/00) · CPC title

• H01L31/02021

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0525

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10F77/955

  for photovoltaic devices · CPC title