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An ideal solar thermal absorber has a sharp transition between high and low absorptance at the wavelength where the blackbody emissive power begins to exceed the solar irradiance. However, most real selective absorbers have a fairly broad transition, leading to both solar absorption and thermal emission losses. Here, we model, fabricate, and characterize a highly selective semiconductor-dielectric-metal (Ga 0.46 In 0.54 As – MgF 2 – Ag) solar absorber with an extremely sharp transition from high to low absorptance. The thin semiconductor serves as a selective filter, absorbing photons with wavelengths shorter than the bandgap and transmitting those with longer wavelengths. The highly reflective dielectric-metal rear mirror allows the structure to have very low emittance for longer wavelengths. These characteristics provide the absorber with a measured solar absorptance >91% below the bandgap wavelength and infrared emittance <5% at 100 °C above the bandgap wavelength. This transition wavelength can be tuned by modifying the semiconductor composition, and modeling indicates that the absorber's optical properties should be stable at high temperatures, making the structure a good candidate for unconcentrated to highly concentrated solar thermal energy conversion. • Fabricated absorbers feature high solar absorptance and low thermal emittance. • A tunable, sharp transition wavelength is achieved with a GaInAs absorber layer. • Modeling indicates that optical properties should be stable at high temperatures. • Appropriate for a variety of applications from high to low optical concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Compared approaches to near-field radiative heat transfer in nanoparticle chains. • Calculated radiative thermal conductivity for different materials and spacings. • Showed that kinetic theory is valid for strong coupling by surface polaritons. • Fluctuational electrodynamics is needed when kinetic theory assumptions fail. In chains of closely spaced nanoparticles supporting surface polaritons, near-field electromagnetic coupling leads to collective effects and super-Planckian thermal radiation exchange. Researchers have primarily used two analytical approaches to calculate radiative heat transfer in these systems: fluctuational electrodynamics, which directly incorporates fluctuating thermal currents into Maxwell's equations, and a kinetic approach where the dispersion relation provides modes and propagation lengths for the Boltzmann transport equation. Here, we compare results from the two approaches in the isotropic dipole limit in order to identify regimes in which kinetic theory is valid and to explain differing results in the literature on its validity. Using both methods, we calculate the diffusive radiative thermal conductivity of nanoparticle chains. We show that kinetic theory is valid and matches predictions by fluctuational electrodynamics if both the surface polariton propagation lengths are greater than the particle spacing and surface polaritons are the dominant contributors to radiative heat transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate GaAs thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices with a patterned dielectric back contact (PDBC) architecture, featuring a dielectric spacer between the semiconductor and back metal contact over most of the back surface for high reflectance, and metal point contacts over a smaller area for electrical conduction. In the TPV application, high sub-bandgap reflectance is needed to reflect unused sub-bandgap photons to the thermal emitter to minimize energy losses in this portion of the thermal spectrum. We explore different PDBC fabrication processes with SU-8 and SiO 2 dielectric spacer layers to maximize sub-bandgap reflectance while minimizing series resistance to increase TPV conversion efficiency. We successfully demonstrate GaAs SU-8 PDBC TPV devices with 2200 °C blackbody-weighted sub-bandgap reflectance of 94.9% and 96.5% with and without a front metal grid, respectively. This is 0.7% and 2.3% (absolute) higher than the mean sub-bandgap reflectance of 94.2% for GaAs baseline TPV devices with 100% Au back contact with front metal grid. Lower sub-bandgap reflectance in TPV devices with front grids indicates the front grid induces light scattering leading to additional parasitic absorption in the TPV device. We also show that for higher contact coverage fractions, the PDBC reflectance cannot in general be treated by a linear interpolation using simple 1D transfer matrix method modeling and should be treated instead as a diffraction grating by solving Maxwell's equations in 3D. • We explore different patterned dielectric back contact (PDBC) fabrication processes with SU-8 and SiO 2 for TPV cells. • Sub-bandgap reflectance over 96% demonstrated using dielectric-metal point contact rear mirror structure, a gain of >1%. • PDBC structures should be modeled as a 3-dimensional diffraction grating by solving Maxwell's equations. • Front grids increase diffuse reflectance thus increasing absorption in the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]