The Critical Role of Substrates in Mitigating the Power–Efficiency Trade-Off in Near-Field Thermophotovoltaics

Near-field thermophotovoltaic systems can achieve ultrahigh power densities, however, this often comes at the cost of reduced efficiency. We show that this power-efficiency trade-off can be mitigated through substrate engineering. We exploit gradient-based optimization and show that thin lossless metallic films with plasma frequencies resonantly matched to the plasmonic emitter can yield high power and spectral efficiency by spectrally enhancing and confining radiative heat transfer to a narrow spectral range just above the photovoltaic bandgap. Compared to noble metals and air-bridged structures, designs deriving from such optimization yield more than an order-of-magnitude increase in radiative power density while maintaining high efficiency. Our results highlight the critical role of the substrate and the potential of substrate optimization for overcoming fundamental limitations of near-field thermophotovoltaic systems.