Graphene-on-Silicon Near-Field Thermophotovoltaic Cell

Thermophotovoltaic devices convert heat to electricity, and are valuable for both solar applications and waste-heat recovery. In this work, the authors show that a graphene-on-silicon Schottky photodiode both dramatically increases radiative heat transfer due to the materials' plasmonic properties, and bypasses the need for $p-n$ junctions as are used in traditional semiconductors, making the device cheap and simple.