Related papers: Near-Field Enhanced Thermionic Energy Conversion f…
Thermoelectricity is the direct conversion of temperature gradient to electric voltage, and vice-versa. There are several potential applications of thermoelectricity, ranging from clean noiseless cooling, to waste-power harvesting in…
Efficient generation of charge carriers from a metallic surface is a critical challenge in a wide variety of applications including vacuum microelectronics and photo-electrochemical devices. Replacing semiconductors with vacuum/gas as the…
We theoretically study hot electron generation through the emission of a dipole source coupled to a nanoresonator on a metal surface. In our hybrid approach, we solve the time-harmonic Maxwell's equations numerically and apply a quantum…
One of the main concerns in traditional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is energy efficiency. In this work, we analyze two techniques that can extend network lifetime. The first is Ambient \emph{Energy Harvesting} (EH), i.e., the capability…
I propose a design strategy to enhance the performance of heat engine via absorption of thermal energy from the channel region. The absorption of thermal energy can be actuated by inelastic processes and may be accomplished by an energy…
The rapid proliferation of wireless networks and connected devices has led to pervasive electromagnetic (EM) energy dissipation into the environment, an underutilized resource for energy harvesting. Here, we demonstrate a pyrite…
Near-field radiative heat transfer is investigated in composite media including nanoparticles. By modeling pair interactions only, the effective thermal conductivity due to near field radiation is calculated based on a thermal nodes model.…
Conventional heat engines typically require two distinct thermal reservoirs, with their efficiency strictly bounded by the Carnot limit. We present a theoretical design for a phase-change heat engine that utilizes water as the working fluid…
We report the design, elaboration and measurements of an innovative planar thermoelectric (TE) devices made of a large array of small mechanically suspended nanogenerators (nanoTEG). The miniaturized TE generators based on SiN membranes are…
Although near-field radiative heat transfer was introduced in the 1950's, interest in the field has recently revived, as the effect promises improved performance in various applications where contactless temperature regulation in the…
In this paper, we propose a model to investigate the electron thermionic emission from a single-layer graphene (ignoring the effects of substrate) and to explore its application as the emitter of thermionic energy convertor (TIC). An…
Electron transpiration cooling (ETC) offers a promising approach for thermal management of hypersonic vehicles by leveraging thermionic emission from the leading edge. While emitted electrons cool the surface, subsequent collection of…
We propose a nanoscale heat engine that utilizes the physics of resonant tunneling in quantum dots in order to transfer electrons only at specific energies. The nanoengine converts heat into electrical current in a multiterminal geometry…
Rectification of thermal fluctuations in mesoscopic conductors is the key idea of today's attempts to build nanoscale thermoelectric energy harvesters in order to convert heat into a useful electric power. So far, most concepts make use of…
Twisted bilayer two-dimensional electronic systems give rise to many exotic phenomena and unveil a new frontier for the study of quantum materials. In photonics, twisted two-dimensional systems coupled via near-field interactions offer a…
A novel electromagnetic energy squeezing mechanism is proposed based on the special properties of permeability-near-zero metamaterials. Nearly no energy stream can enter a conventional dielectric region positioned inside a…
Photosynthesis is nature's route to convert intermittent solar irradiation into storable energy, while its use for an industrial energy supply is impaired by low efficiency. Artificial photosynthesis provides a promising alternative for…
Achieving efficient, high-power harmonic generation in the terahertz spectral domain has technological applications, for example in sixth generation (6G) communication networks. Massless Dirac fermions possess extremely large terahertz…
Several models of thermionic energy nanoconverters have been proposed to study the transport phenomena that take place in electronic devices. For example, in resonant tunneling junctions those phenomena are manifested through the…
Recent studies of the performance of radio-frequency (RF) copper cavities operated at cryogenic temperatures have shown a dramatic increase in the maximum achievable surface electric field. We propose to exploit this development to enable a…