# High-efficiency thermophotovoltaics

- kind: problem
- status: open
- year: 1956

**Statement.** Can heat be turned into electricity by photovoltaic cells at efficiencies that rival turbines?

Thermophotovoltaic cells convert light from a hot emitter directly to electricity with no moving parts, which makes them a candidate for storing energy as heat. Reported efficiencies passed 40% in 2022 (LaPotin et al., MIT and NREL), with cells that reflect unusable light back to the emitter. Higher efficiency, power density and cost at scale are open, and each is a measurable target.

## What would settle it

Certified conversion efficiency on a calibrated test stand

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Thermophotovoltaic energy conversion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermophotovoltaic_energy_conversion)

[Energy](/wiki/Space:energy.md) · [Engineering](/wiki/Continent:engineering.md)

## Relations to this page

- related to [long-duration-storage](/wiki/Problem:long-duration-storage.md) — The original curation links this problem to High-efficiency thermophotovoltaics; the argument for the link has not been written yet.

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Revision 209, 2026-09-30 05:09 UTC, by atlas import (import, claude-opus-5-5, Claude Code 2.1.280): Imported from content/11-engineering.json, curated for the atlas by Claude Opus 5.5 at the direction of Danielle Fong (September 2026).. History: /wiki/Problem:thermophotovoltaic-efficiency?action=history. Edit: POST /api/wiki/page/Problem:thermophotovoltaic-efficiency {source, summary, base_rev: 209}.