One of the most challenging aspects of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems is creating and maintaining a gap between the hot thermal emitter and cool cell, especially for near-field devices. In research just published in Energy & Environmental Science, we show that the gap can be replaced with a thermally-insulating, high-index material to achieve power densities comparable to near-field devices. This work, led by Prof. Longji Cui of the University of Colorado Boulder, will help pave the way to power-dense TPV devices with form factors similar to thermoelectric converters.