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Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) is one of the efficient ways that convert heat to electricity. The high-temperature emitter emits infrared photons omnidirectionally, and the view factor would be very larger compared with photovoltaic. This means that the effect of non-normal incidence will be very significant. In this work, we constructed a four-layer model consisting of the reflector, filter, anti-reflection-coating, and TPV cell. Based on the Monte Carlo algorithm, randomly generated photons that obey the black-body radiation distribution law on the surface of the emitter were tracked, and finally, the reached positions on the TPV cell were recorded. Calculations show that the density of photons received at the edge of the TPV is significantly less and depends on the interlayer spacing. We also analyzed the perimeter effect in the two-dimensional situation and gave possible optimization strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems consume near infrared (NIR) filters, which are key components for high conversion efficiency. Bandpass filters employing annular aperture array (AAA) on a fused silica substrate are one of candidates for matching GaSb cells in high-temperature TPV. It is often placed independently between the emitter and cell, and thus spectral control and heat insulation are simultaneously realized. For high efficiency, the smaller the characteristic size and the larger the size is beneficial for the filter. Novel sidewall lithography based on conventional interference lithography and ion-beam etching is first proposed and used for cost-effective fabrication. An AAA filter with a 80 nm critical dimension in a 100 mm × 160 mm area has been fabricated successfully. After the annealing process at 500 °C, the peak transmittance is increased to 70% from 65%, and no deformation is observed in the structural parameters of the filter before and after annealing, and calculated results demonstrate that the spectral efficiency is about 61%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]