What is the useful energy of a photon?
What is the useful energy of a photon?
The fundamental upper bound on the efficiency of photovoltaic conversion continues to attract interest of the research community. By considering the conversion efficiency of a monochromatic photon gas at constant pressure we show that this limit is equal to the availability (or exergy), as defined in textbooks on classical thermodynamics. The application of this result to the full spectrum of black-body radiation yields the Petela-Press-Landsberg efficiency. Generalization to include entropy generation on account of the kinetic nature of the conversion process, by drawing a parallel with the efficiency of an infinite tandem converter, yields a theoretical efficiency limit of 85.2%.
193901-193903
Markvart, T.
f21e82ec-4e3b-4485-9f27-ffc0102fdf1c
Bauer, G.H.
96218586-e6b9-4d95-ba30-188a970fd18b
2012
Markvart, T.
f21e82ec-4e3b-4485-9f27-ffc0102fdf1c
Bauer, G.H.
96218586-e6b9-4d95-ba30-188a970fd18b
Markvart, T. and Bauer, G.H.
(2012)
What is the useful energy of a photon?
Applied Physics Letters, 101, .
(doi:10.1063/1.4766177).
Abstract
The fundamental upper bound on the efficiency of photovoltaic conversion continues to attract interest of the research community. By considering the conversion efficiency of a monochromatic photon gas at constant pressure we show that this limit is equal to the availability (or exergy), as defined in textbooks on classical thermodynamics. The application of this result to the full spectrum of black-body radiation yields the Petela-Press-Landsberg efficiency. Generalization to include entropy generation on account of the kinetic nature of the conversion process, by drawing a parallel with the efficiency of an infinite tandem converter, yields a theoretical efficiency limit of 85.2%.
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Published date: 2012
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Engineering Science Unit
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Local EPrints ID: 345207
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/345207
ISSN: 0003-6951
PURE UUID: 041e37c6-62db-43bc-bd65-8aaa0475c0b7
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Date deposited: 13 Nov 2012 12:56
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 12:22
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G.H. Bauer
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