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Chemically active droplets provide simple models for cell-like systems that can grow and divide. Such active droplet systems are driven away from thermodynamic equilibrium and turn over chemically, which corresponds to a simple metabolism.…

Energy transfer plays a vital role in many natural and technological processes. In this work, we study the effects of mechanical motion on the excitation transfer through a chain of interacting molecules with application to biological…

Recently, the coupling of ferroelectrics with electrochemical reactions has attracted increasing interest for harvesting waste heat. The change of polarisation of a ferroelectric with temperature can be used to influence chemical reactions,…

The transition to a climate-neutral energy system demands large-scale renewable generation expansion, which requires substantial amounts of bulk materials like steel, cement, and polymers. The production of these materials represents an…

The study of how photosynthetic organisms convert light offers insight not only into nature's evolutionary process, but may also give clues as to how best to design and manipulate artificial photosynthetic systems -- and also how far we can…

The Q-cycle mechanism entering the electron and proton transport chain in oxygenic photosynthesis is an example of how biological processes can be efficiently investigated with elementary microscopic models. Here we address the problem of…

In this paper we revisit the thermocouple model, as a linear irreversible thermodynamic energy converter. As is well known, the linear model of the thermocuple is one of the classics in this branch. In this model we note two types of…

Cells generally convert external nutrient resources to support metabolismand growth. Understanding the thermodynamic efficiency of this conversion is essential to determine the general characteristics of cellular growth. Using a simple…

Thermoelectric generators are particularly suitable to investigate the irreversible processes which govern the coupled transport of matter and heat in solid-state systems. We study the efficiency at maximum power in the strong coupling…

Energy is a vital resource and hence there is a continuous strive to improve upon existing technologies and to find new ones that address that basic need. The conversion of thermal energy is the primary method of generating electrical…

We propose a pyroelectric energy conversion device that converts heat directly to electricity. In contrast to conventional pyroelectric energy conversion designs, this energy harvesting system is detached from any external power sources,…

Solar thermal fuels (STFs) are an unconventional paradigm for solar energy conversion and storage which is attracting renewed attention. In this concept, a material absorbs sunlight and stores the energy chemically via an induced structural…

By converting waste heat into electricity through the thermoelectric power of solids without producing greenhouse gas emissions, thermoelectric generators could be an important part of the solution to today's energy challenge. There has…

We study alchemical atomic energy partitioning as a method to estimate atomisation energies from atomic contributions which are defined in physically rigorous and general ways through use of the uniform electron gas as a joint reference. We…

Thermoelectric effects, such as the generation of a particle current by a temperature gradient, have their origin in a reversible coupling between heat and particle flows. These effects are fundamental probes for materials and have…

Several authors have shown that dissipative thermal cycle models based on Finite-Time Thermodynamics exhibit loop-shaped curves of power output versus efficiency, such as it occurs with actual dissipative thermal engines. Within the context…

The morphology of interfaces is known to play fundamental role on the efficiency of energy-related applications, such light harvesting or ion intercalation. Altering the morphology on demand, however, is a very difficult task. Here, we show…

The rate of electron transfer between a molecular species and a metal, each at a different local temperature, is examined theoretically through implementation of a bithermal (characterized by two temperatures) Marcus formalism. Expressions…

It has long been hypothesized that futile cycles in cellular metabolism are involved in the regulation of biochemical pathways. Following the work of Newsholme and Crabtree, we develop a quantitative theory for this idea based on…

Bubbles are known to influence energy and mass transfer in gas evolving electrodes. However, we lack a detailed understanding on the intricate dependencies between bubble evolution processes and electrochemical phenomena. This review…