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Thermoradiative Cells Based on a p-type Cu3SbSe4 Semiconductor: Application of a Detailed Balance Model

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Abstract

Thermoradiative cells (TRCs) are power generators that efficiently convert low temperature waste heat into electricity. Although there is a growing interest in this potential technology, most of the works dealing with the study of efficient TRCs are focused on the theoretical analysis of their performance. In this work, a Cu3SbSe4 semiconductor is proposed to be applied in TRCs. Firstly, the electronic structure of Cu3SbSe4 has been obtained by using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Then, DFT calculated bandgap values are employed to assess the efficiency of TRCs based on Cu3SbSe4. For this purpose, the power conversion efficiency has been calculated by using the Shockley–Queisser framework through a detailed balance model adapted to TRCs that includes the doping level through its effect on the energy barrier appearing at the pn-junction.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad through the project SEHTOP-QC (ENE2016-77798-C4-4-R) and by Universidad Politécnica de Madrid through the project DNSMEP (VJIDOUPM19GGM). The author thankfully acknowledges the computer resources, technical expertise and assistance provided by the Supercomputing and Visualization Center of Madrid (CeSViMa).We also acknowledge Computing and Advanced Technologies Foundation of Extremadura (CénitS, LUSITANIA Supercomputer, Spain) for providing supercomputing facilities. J. J. Fernández thanks to the UNED for providing its computational facilities and to Prof. J. E. Alvarellos and Drs. D. García-Aldea, E. Fernández-Sánchez and J. Rodríguez-Laguna for fruitful discussions. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Energía Solar, ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Gregorio García, Pablo Palacios & Perla Wahnón

  2. Departamento de Tecnología Fotónica y Bioingeniería, ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Gregorio García & Perla Wahnón

  3. Departamento de Física Fundamental, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Julio J. Fernández

  4. Departamento de Física Aplicada a las Ingenierías Aeronáutica y Naval, ETSI Aeronáutica y del Espacio, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pz. Cardenal Cisneros, 3, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Pablo Palacios

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  1. Gregorio García
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  2. Julio J. Fernández
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  3. Pablo Palacios
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  4. Perla Wahnón
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Correspondence to Gregorio García.

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García, G., Fernández, J.J., Palacios, P. et al. Thermoradiative Cells Based on a p-type Cu3SbSe4 Semiconductor: Application of a Detailed Balance Model. J. Electron. Mater. 48, 6777–6785 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07485-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07485-z

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