Experimental validation of high-performance commercial thermal interface materials in PV-TEG hybrid systems

The "Efficiency Dilemma" caused by high photovoltaic (PV) cell temperatures and ineffective heat transfer significantly limits the performance of photovoltaic-thermoelectric (PV-TEG) hybrid systems. A critical bottleneck in these systems is the thermal contact resistance (TCR) arising from microscopic roughness at the PV-TEG interface. Recent literature has largely focused on mitigating TCR through the laboratory synthesis of complex nanocarbon-based composites. However, these methods often present challenges regarding scalability, cost, and complexity. This study proposes a practical engineering solution by experimentally validating the efficacy of a commercially available, high-performance thermal interface material (TIM) with a thermal conductivity of 6.0 W m −1 K −1 , significantly exceeding typical lab-synthesized values. Experimental tests were conducted using a calibrated halogen-tungsten solar simulator to replicate the thermal characteristics of solar radiation under controlled laboratory conditions with active cooling support. The study comparatively analyzed 2 scenarios: (i) a reference "dry contact" setup and (ii) an improved interface using the commercial high-performance TIM. Thermal imaging analysis and electrical measurements demonstrated that the commercial TIM effectively eliminated interfacial air gaps, reducing the PV surface temperature by 10.4°C and enhancing the TEG open-circuit voltage ( V oc ) by 75.8% compared to the dry contact scenario. These findings confirm that accessible, off-the-shelf high-performance thermal pastes offer a viable and superior alternative to complex synthesized composites for the thermal management of PV-TEG systems.