Experimental and simulation analysis of GaSb cell conversion performance under high quasi-monochromatic thermal radiation

The widespread application of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells has been significantly limited by their low energy conversion efficiency. This study aims to explore the factors and mechanisms influencing the energy conversion efficiency of TPV cells. A temperature-controllable high quasi-monochromatic thermal radiation testing platform was constructed. The controlled variable method was used to study the effects of different spot positions, cell temperatures, radiation energy flux densities, and beam sizes on the energy conversion performance of TPV cells. Meanwhile, a two-dimensional finite element model of the surface current flow was developed based on the SEM of the TPV cell. The experimental results were further explained using the simulation results. The results showed that when other conditions remained constant, the performance of the cell was not affected by the position of the light spot. For each 1℃ increase in temperature, the current rose by approximately 0.5 mA, while the V_oc decreased by approximately 2 mV. When the incident radiation energy flux increased, the output current rose, while the V_oc initially increased and then decreased. When other conditions remained constant, as the beam size increased, the I_sc remained unchanged, the V_oc decreased, and the output power increased. Therefore, an optimal operating environment should be selected to maximize TPV cell performance.