Related papers: Solar cell as self-oscillating heat engine
Magnetic energy is one the main agents powering our society: generating energy in power plants, keeping information in magnetic memories, moving our devices with motors. All of these applications require a certain spatial distribution of…
We review the results of solar neutrino physics, with particular attention to the data obtained and the analyses performed in the last decades, which were determinant to solve the solar neutrino problem (SNP), proving that neutrinos are…
This publication provides an overview of magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere with the focus lying on the corona. The solar magnetic field couples the solar interior with the visible surface of the Sun and with its atmosphere. It is also…
We consider a collision between a moving particle and a fixed system, each having internal degrees of freedom. We identify the regime where the motion of the particle acts as a work source for the joint internal system, leading to energy…
We study the solar emission of light dark sector particles that self-interact strongly enough to self-thermalize. The resulting outflow behaves like a fluid which accelerates under its own thermal pressure to highly relativistic bulk…
Quantum heat engines employ as working agents multi-level systems instead of gas-filled cylinders. We consider particularly two-level agents such as electrons immersed in a magnetic field. Work is produced in that case when the electrons…
Many advanced concepts for high-efficiency photovoltaic devices exploit the peculiar optoelectronic properties of semiconductor nanostructures such as quantum wells, wires and dots. While the optics of such devices is only modestly affected…
Although it is widely accepted that photospheric motions provide the energy source and that the magnetic field must play a key role in the process, the detailed mechanisms responsible for heating the Sun's corona and accelerating the solar…
We analyze standard theoretical models of solar energy conversion developed to study solar cells and photosynthetic systems. We show that the assumption that the energy transfer to the reaction center/electric circuit is through a decay…
Because of its nonequilibrium character, active matter in a steady state can drive engines that autonomously deliver work against a constant mechanical force or torque. As a generic model for such an engine, we consider systems that contain…
It is shown that the description of the solar cycle that takes into account the odd zonal harmonic of the solar magnetic field allows us to deepen our knowledge of two important aspects of the solar activity. First, to clarify and expand…
The solar magnetic field is the primary agent that drives solar activity and couples the Sun to the Heliosphere. Although the details of this coupling depend on the quantitative properties of the field, many important aspects of the corona…
An isolated single-junction solar cell's temperature in outer space depends only on its radiation exchange with its environment. We consider a cell with zero emissivity below its bandgap and unity above it -- an idealization so far…
Although the mechanisms responsible for heating the Sun's corona and accelerating the solar wind are still being actively investigated, it is largely accepted that photospheric motions provide the energy source and that the magnetic field…
The endeavor of the scientific community to maximize the possibility to harvest Sun irradiation for energy production is mainly devoted to the improvement of the power conversion efficiency of devices and to the extension of the spectral…
A comprehensive understanding of the solar magnetic cycle requires detailed modeling of the solar interior including the maintenance and variation of large scale flows (differential rotation and meridional flow), the solar dynamo and the…
Solar vortices are fundamental components of solar atmospheric dynamics, serving as natural laboratories for magnetic field twisting, energy concentration and transport, wave guidance, and plasma coupling across atmospheric layers.…
We present a pipeline to study the device performance of organic solar cells in silico. We introduce a mathematical model that includes the dynamics of excitons as well as their dissociation at bulk heterojunctions within the nanomorphology…
The hotness of the sun and the coldness of the outer space are inexhaustible thermodynamic resources for human beings. From a thermodynamic point of view, any energy conversion systems that receive energy from the sun and/or dissipate…
The Sun's global meridional circulation is evident as a slow poleward flow at its surface. This flow is observed to carry magnetic elements poleward - producing the Sun's polar magnetic fields as a key part of the 11-year sunspot cycle.…