ABSTRACT:

Thermophotovoltaics (TPV) is the direct conversion of radiant heat into electricity. In recent years TPV technology has shown efficiencies in the range of 30 to 40%, becoming the most efficient solid state heat engine developed so far. In this seminar I will review the main research activities on TPV energy conversion that are being carried out in our laboratory. Our group started researching TPV in 2005, when we developed the first solar-powered TPV system in the EU. Since then, TPV research has continued in our laboratory to develop new TPV concepts and explore new TPV applications. This talk will focus on reviewing these activities. Examples of topics I will cover in the seminar include the challenge of measuring TPV efficiency, the experimental demonstration of a thermionic-photovoltaic hybrid power converter, and the development of prototype TPV systems for waste heat recovery and energy storage applications. 

BIO:

Alejandro Datas got his PhD in Photovoltaic Solar Energy in 2011 from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM). His scientific career has focused on the development of thermophotovoltaic devices for the conversion of thermal energy into electricity. He has been a researcher at the UPM, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. He is co-author of more than 40 scientific publications and 5 patents. He currently coordinates two European projects to develop a new energy storage technology based on silicon alloys and thermophotovoltaic devices. Since 2021 he is Associate Professor at the Department of Physical Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at UPM and scientific researcher at the Solar Energy Institute of the same University. He is also a founding partner of Thermophoton (www.thermophoton.com), a UPM spin-off whose objective is to commercialize the thermophotovoltaic devices developed by his research team.