Er_2O_3薄膜型热辐射体的制备与性能研究

调制辐射体的可见和近红外区域的辐射光谱与光伏电池吸收光谱的匹配是开发高性能热光伏电池技术的关键.采用电子束蒸发在单晶硅衬底上制备金属Er薄膜并进行后氧化处理制备Er_2O_3薄膜型辐射体.X射线衍射结果表明薄膜结晶良好,且Si基底对Er_2O_3薄膜的晶体结构没有显著影响.X射线光电子能谱拟合结果表明薄膜中Er元素和O元素符合Er_2O_3的化学计量比.高温近红外光谱测试结果表明,样品在1550 nm左右出现了明显的Er~(3+)离子的特征辐射峰,这与GaSb光电池的吸收光谱相匹配.

Preparation and performance study of Er2O3 film selective thermal emitter

Solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) generator is a popular energy converter due to providing low noise, low thermal mechanical stress and portability. It has the ability to exceed the efficiency of pure solar photovoltaic system. An idealized STPV generator is a reversible heat-engine, offering a theoretical efficiency of over 80%, but the actual conversion efficiency of STPV generator is still low due to the mistuned spectral property between the thermal selective emitter and the TPV cell. One key issue in developing the STPV generator with high performance is the spectral matching between the thermal radiation spectrum of radiator and the spectral response of photovoltaic cell in visible and near-infrared region, which usually lies between the visible and the near-infrared region. High-temperature spectral emissivity of rare earth oxide is of special interest, because the radiation has a narrow band of wavelengths in the near infrared and infrared region from 900 to 3000 nm. In this work, the thermal-selective film Er₂O₃ emitter is fabricated by post-oxidation of Er film deposited on Si substrate through using electron-beam gun evaporation. Based on the X-ray diffraction results, the Er₂O₃ film is of cubic phase structure and well-crystallized when the oxidation temperature is 700℃, and the Si substrate has no obvious influence on the crystal structure of Er₂O₃ film. According to the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results of the Er₂O₃ film after thermal oxidation at 700℃, the atomic ratio of Er/O is stoichiometric. In order to obtain the selective emission characteristic of the Er₂O₃ film, a measurement system is designed. The system consists of two major portions, i.e., one is a near infrared spectrometer purchased from Ocean Optics, the other is a high-temperature emission characteristic tester which can provide oxyhydrogen flame to heat the sample by using an electronic impulse ignition to torch the hydrogen-oxygen mixture. The oxyhydrogen flame passes through the nozzle and sprays vertically on the surface of the thermal-selective emitter sample. The facula of the oxyhydrogen flame convergence is very small (facula diameter:~0.8 cm), and the highest temperature achieved is about 2500℃. The measurement condition of selective emission performance of the Er₂O₃ film emitter coincides with the application characteristic of STPV generator. The emission performance result of the film emitter at 700℃ shows a typical gray-body emission characteristic. The measurements carried out at 900 and 1100℃ show that the Er₂O₃ film has a distinct emittance spectrum at 1550 nm corresponding to Er³⁺, and the intensity of the selective emission peak strengthens with the measuring temperature or film thickness increasing. The thermal-selective film Er₂O₃ emitter is found to have emission spectrum suitable for efficient matching with the infrared response of GaSb photovoltaic cell.