A review of the concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (CPVT) hybrid solar systems based on the spectral beam splitting technology

This article presents a review on the research and development of spectral beam splitting concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (SBS CPVT) hybrid solar systems. The investigations on the SBS CPVT hybrid technologies had begun in the 1980s and were aimed at complete utilization of the solar irradiation over the whole solar spectrum using both PV cells and thermal absorbers. Several different SBS approaches were employed to achieve better conversion efficiencies, including the interference filter, liquid absorptive filter, holographic filter, luminescent filter, diffractive filter, combined interference and liquid absorptive filter, combined liquid and solid absorptive filter, and photovoltaics itself as a solid absorptive filter. The SBS CPVT systems were proposed or assembled in various system configurations for numerous purposes, such as domestic hot water, thermochemical reaction, hydrogen production, or even power generation. These researches and developments are comprehensively reviewed in this article, and the advantages and disadvantages of different SBS methods are presented and concluded. This paper also aims to provide a global point of view on research trends, market potential, technical obstacles, and the future work required for the development of SBS CPVT technology.