A novel thermo-photovoltaic cell with quantum-well for high open circuit voltage

•A novel thermo-photovoltaic cell is proposed that increase efficiency.•This is a Tandem cell which is investigated by absorption coefficients and quantum efficiency.•In the bottom cell quantum wells are used for increasing the current.•The top cell and the bottom cell have matching current.

We design a thermo-photovoltaic Tandem cell which produces high open circuit voltage (Voc) that causes to increase efficiency (η). The currently used materials (AlAsSb–InGaSb/InAsSb) have thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) property which can be a p–n junction of a solar cell, but they have low bandgap energy which is the reason for lower open circuit voltage. In this paper, in the bottom cell of the Tandem, there is 30 quantum wells which increase absorption coefficients and quantum efficiency (QE) that causes to increase current. By increasing the current of the bottom cell, the top cell thickness must be increased because the top cell and the bottom cell should have the same current. In the top cell, by increasing the thickness, absorption coefficients and quantum efficiency increase that causes to increase the current. Current increment is also the second factor that causes to increase overall efficiency.