Two-junction photovoltaic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12068425-B2
Application number	US-202318454171-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2023
Priority date	Feb 8, 2018
Publication date	Aug 20, 2024
Grant date	Aug 20, 2024

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a photovoltaic (PV) device that includes a first junction constructed with a first alloy and having a bandgap between about 1.0 eV and about 1.5 eV, and a second junction constructed with a second alloy and having a bandgap between about 0.9 eV and about 1.3 eV, where the first alloy includes III-V elements, the second alloy includes III-V elements, and the PV device is configured to operate in a thermophotovoltaic system having an operating temperature between about 1500° C. and about 3000° C.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermophotovoltaic (TPV) device comprising, in order:
a first junction having a first composition comprising Al x Ga 1-x As;
a tunnel junction having a second composition comprising at least one of GaAs or AlGaAs;
a buffer layer having a third composition comprising at least one of Ga y In 1-y P or Al a Ga b In 1-a-b As; and
a second junction having a fourth composition comprising Ga c In 1-c As, wherein:
the first junction has a bandgap between 1.3 eV and 1.5 eV,
the second junction has a bandgap between 1.1 eV and 1.3 eV,
0≤x≤0.45,
0.20<y<0.51,
0.15≤a≤0.70,
0.25≤b≤0.60,
0.70≤c≤0.95, and
the TPV device is configured to absorb light from a blackbody operating at a temperature, T w , between 1500° C. and 3000° C.

2. The TPV device of claim 1 , wherein the first composition is GaAs.

3. The TPV device of claim 1 , wherein the third composition is Ga y In 1-y P and 0.32≤y≤0.51.

4. The TPV device of claim 1 , wherein the buffer layer is a compositionally graded buffer (CGF) layer.

5. The TPV device of claim 4 , wherein:
the CGF layer comprises between 2 and 15 graded layers,
each graded layer comprises the third composition, and
the graded layer adjacent to the second junction is lattice-matched to the second junction.

6. The TPV device of claim 1 , wherein the fourth composition is substantially equal to Ga 0.85 In 0.15 As.

7. The TPV device of claim 1 , wherein T w is between 1900° C. and 2400° C.

8. The TPV device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a substrate comprising at least one of GaAs or Ge, wherein:
the first junction is positioned between the substrate and the tunnel junction.

Assignees

• Alliance Sustainable Energy
• Georgia Tech Res Inst

Inventors

• Steiner Myles Aaron
• Friedman Daniel Joseph
• France Ryan Matthew
• Henry Asegun

Classifications

• H10F71/139

  using temporary substrates · CPC title

• H10F10/161

  comprising multiple PN heterojunctions, e.g. tandem cells · CPC title

• H10F10/163 Primary

  comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaAs/AlGaAs or InP/GaInAs photovoltaic cells · 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

• Y02P70/50

  Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product · CPC title