Theoretical efficiency of realistic solar cells intended for thermophotovoltaic applications

Abstract

The ideal and theoretical efficiencies of one-, two- and three-cell systems using GaAs, silicon and germanium semiconductor materials for thermophotovoltaic applications have been calculated to select the most suitable combination for these applications. It has been verified that, although the GaAsSiGe system is better than the SiGe system in the ideal case, this is no longer true in the theoretical case.