Pyrolyzed parylene structure as selective emittter for high-efficiency thermophotovoltaic power generation

Abstract

In this report, we propose Si microcavities coated with parylene-pyrolyzed carbon as a selective emitter for high-efficiency thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power generation system. In order to obtain carbon films with uniform thickness on three-dimensional Si structures, we adopt CxFy deposition on the top of the parylene film before the pyrolysis. The carbon yield doubles with the CxFy deposition. We also demonstrate that the Si microcavities coated with carbon thus fabricated exhibit an emittance peak near the wavelength of 2.6 mum, which corresponds to the characteristic electromagnetic mode of the cavity.