APMCM 2021

The thermal emitter in the thermophotovoltaic system mainly utilizes different material structures to regulate the emission of the heat absorbed, so that most of the emitted photons are below the band-gap wavelength of the photovoltaic cell. The photovoltaic cell mainly converts the high-energy photons that are below a particular band-gap wavelength. It possesses a certain band-gap energy, and therefore a corresponding band-gap wavelength. Therefore, to improve the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of the thermophotovoltaic system, it is essential to regulate the emission spectrum of the thermal emitter. And chief factors affecting the emission spectrum of the thermal emitter are the optical properties (refractive index or dielectric constant) and structural properties (thickness) of the material. In our study, we proposed a materials combination optimization model to find out the (near-) optimal material combination to satisfy design requirements. The relationship between the emission spectra and material properties of single- and multi- layer are studied respectively. We give an intelligent solution to address material identification problems under different emission spectrum requirements via constructing and solving corresponding optimization models.