TREE-SCHOOL 2024

Scope and aim

This scientific school was part of an international drive to intensify research on thermophotovoltaic conversion. Typically, thermal radiation from a hot body at a temperature of between 700 and 2500 °C is converted into electricity by a photovoltaic cell operating in the infrared. The recent emergence of the thermophotovoltaic battery concept, based on the possibility of storing heat from various sources (industrial waste heat, concentrated solar energy, electrical energy from renewable energies during periods of low demand) at high volume density, presents the scientific community with numerous challenges, both theoretical and experimental, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, involving fundamental physical processes and coupling issues that cut across the elements and scales of the conversion system.
The aim of the school was to train researchers and engineers concerned with the scientific problems posed by the conversion of thermal radiation into electricity. This training should help participants to better identify unresolved scientific questions, and thus guide their research, within the collaborative framework of growing national and international communities.

Sponsors

	CNRS Engineering, CNRS Chemistry, and CNRS Physics institutes (main sponsor for the CNRS employees)
	ANR funding (ANR-11-LABX-0017-01) managed by the University of Poitiers
	Funding by Région Occitanie managed by CNRS-DR13
	ANR funding (ANR-10-LABX-0022) managed by the University of Perpignan
	LAAS-CNRS (management staff and communication supports)

Program

• Introduction to thermophotovoltaic conversion [basics, TPV batteries, characterization,…] (6 hours 30 minutes)
• Converting primary energy into thermal energy and thermal energy storage (4 hours)
• Heat transfer [thermal radiation, properties at high temperature] (5 hours 30 minutes)
• Photovoltaic conversion [basics, fabrication, light trapping,…] (5 hours)
• Advanced concepts [near-field TPV, thermophotonics,…] (3 hours 30 minutes)
• Cross-disciplinary scientific issues [Life cycle analysis, multi-physics multi-scale modeling] (3 hours 30 minutes)

	9h00-11h00		11h30-13h00		14h30-16h30		17h00-18h30	19h00	19h45	21h
Sunday, Oct. 13									dinner	Introduction
Monday, Oct.14	1- Basics of thermal radiation	coffee break	2- Basics of PV conversion	lunch	3-Introduction to TPV	coffee break	4- TPV batteries	Provencal aperitif	dinner	Poster session
Tuesday, Oct. 15	5- Heat sources and generation	coffee break	6- Detailed balance for TPV	lunch	7- Heat storage	coffee break	8- Environmental aspects		dinner	Panel discussion (TPV batteries)
Wednesday, Oct. 16	9- Properties at high temperature	coffee break	10- Selective emitters	lunch		coffee served			dinner	Panel discussion (heat sources)
Thursday, Oct. 17	11- Fabricating PV cells	coffee break	12- Photonics in PV cells	lunch	13- Near-field TPV	coffee break	14 – Characterization of TPV devices	aperitif	gala dinner
Friday, Oct. 18	15- Multi-scale/physics modelling	coffee break	16- Advanced concepts	lunch	Conclusion**

Organizers

• Scientific and organizing committee: P.-Olivier Chapuis (CETHIL), Jérémi Dauchet (Institut Pascal), Jérémie Drevillon (Institut Pprime), Olivier Farges (LEMTA), Elyes Nefzaoui (ESYCOM), Xavier Py (LTeN), Inès Revol (LAAS-CNRS), Rodolphe Vaillon (LAAS-CNRS).
• Support: main contacts of the laboratories participating to the team-project TREE, Angèle Noguero & Véronique Cubaud (CNRS, DR14), Hélène Cluzel, Dominique Daurat, Thibault Hueber, Justine Praneuf (LAAS-CNRS).
• Main contact: Rodolphe Vaillon, LAAS-CNRS, France