Optimization of InGaAsSb Thermophotovoltaic Cell for Waste Heat Harvesting Application

Alongside the growing energy demand, the exploration and invention in technology to achieve world sustainability goal is of particular interest. However, the limitation of low overall energy conversion efficiency in conventional fossil-fuel-fired power plants is yet to be resolved. Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) system is of great interest today, as it promotes the usage of renewable energy and improves the energy efficiency in a plant. Narrower bandgap materials such as InGaAsSb TPV cell has been reported to achieve a promising performance for waste-heat application. However, the performance of InGaAsSb TPV cell is yet to be optimized. Hence, this research aims to optimize 0.496 eV InGaAsSb to achieve better cell efficiency using Silvaco software under 10002000 K blackbody temperature, which complies with the heat harvesting application. At 1223 K blackbody temperature InGaAsSb can potentially generate electricity with 10.82% efficiency $\left({{P_{out}} = 0.286{\text{W/c}}{{\mathrm{m}}^2}} \right)$. By optimizing the doping level and emitter thickness, it is capable to produce a maximum output power of 0.31 and 0.33 W/cm2, respectively. Thus, this study shall contribute to the development of narrow bandgap TPV device for waste heat recovery system.