Concentrating Photovoltaic‐Thermal Energy Harvesting System Exceeding 80% Conversion Efficiency

Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) offers a promising solution to address the global energy crisis. However, excessive heating remains a major issue for photovoltaic, resulting in a reduced solar‐to‐electricity conversion efficiency and waste heat discharge. Here, an energy‐efficient and self‐sustained concentrating photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) system is presented by utilizing a superwicking metal (SWIM) heat‐mass exchanger that simultaneously converts solar energy for electricity, steam generation, and heat storage. The system achieves high integration by directly attaching the SWIM plate to the backside of a CPV cell. The SWIM surface pulls a thin film of water uphill across its surface, effectively extracting waste heat from the CPV panel through interfacial evaporative heat transfer and repurposing it for steam generation and thermal storage. SWIM shows a large cooling capacity through a combined radiative, conductive, and evaporative cooling processes. Under 100x solar concentration, SWIM reduces the CPV temperature from 98.12 to 69.73 °C, boosting the electricity generation by 19.76%. Additionally, the developed SWIM‐CPV system can track the sun throughout the day to maximize solar radiance and energy harvesting performance. An average solar energy harvesting efficiency over 80% is demonstrated for concentration ratios from 10x to 100x, surpassing most comparable technologies.