Co-producing electricity and solar syngas by transmitting photovoltaics and solar thermochemical process

In this paper, a solar co-producing electricity and solar syngas is originally proposed through synergistically combining a solar photovoltaic process and a solar thermochemical process. A transmitting photovoltaics is adopted and enables the ultraviolet and visible spectra to be converted into electricity. The infrared spectrum penetrates through the transmitting photovoltaics and is converted into high-grade chemical exergy of solar syngas through thermochemical reaction, rather than being converted into waste heat. The energy conversion models of the transmitting photovoltaics and solar thermochemical reactor are described. The total efficiency of solar-to-both electricity and solar syngas can be achieved to 55%. Furthermore, the influence of the key parameters on the solar cogeneration system performance is disclosed, such as the cut-off wavelength, solar cell types and production ratio. Our results would be expected to provide a new pathway of cascade utilization of the concentrating sunlight according to the spectrum distribution.