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Existing thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices have low efficiencies since the wavelength range of optimal photovoltaic (PV) conversion is very small compared to the emitter spectral range. Selective emitters are a very promising solution to this problem. We developed numerical tools to design and optimize such emitters. Some of the resulting structures composed of four layers of metals and semiconductors are presented in this paper. We also show that the usual PV devices efficiency limits (30\% for crystalline silicon under solar radiation, according to Shockley-Queisser model) can be easily overcome thanks to these structures.

selective emitters; thermophotovoltaic; multilayer