Issue 6, 2021

Comparing different geometries for photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid devices based on organics

Abstract

Coupling thermoelectrics (TE) with photovoltaics (PV) has emerged as an approach to solid-state solar harvesting, directly converting light and infrared heat into electricity. In this work, we compare PV-TE hybrid devices based on organic semiconductors in three different geometries: a reflection geometry, a non-contact transmission geometry, and a contact transmission geometry. The temperature rises of films of common organic thermoelectric materials, including poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS), single-walled carbon nanotubes (swCNT), and poly[2,5-bis(3-tetradecylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene] (PBTTT), were measured in configurations representative of the proposed geometries. Because organic semiconductors possess broadband light absorption and low thermal conductivities, a significant rise in temperature was observed under illumination for all geometries. We find, however, that the best configuration is, in fact, the transmission contact mode because it sums two effects. Operating under 1 sun illumination, the temperature of a commercial organic PV module increased by ≈30 K, which leads to an enhancement in OPV performance compared to room temperature. After attaching a thermoelectric to the OPV module, losses from convection are reduced, and the OPV module heats up even more, further increasing its efficiency while additionally enabling thermoelectric generation. Finally, we calculate theoretical thermoelectric efficiencies for the materials and their respective power densities.

Graphical abstract: Comparing different geometries for photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid devices based on organics

Associated articles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Oct 2020
Accepted
11 Jan 2021
First published
11 Jan 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021,9, 2123-2132

Comparing different geometries for photovoltaic-thermoelectric hybrid devices based on organics

J. P. Jurado, B. Dörling, O. Zapata-Arteaga, A. R. Goñi and M. Campoy-Quiles, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021, 9, 2123 DOI: 10.1039/D0TC05067A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements