Related papers: Harvesting Energy from Sun, Outer Space, and Soil
Energy harvesting from sun and outer space using thermoradiative devices (TRD), despite being promising renewable energy sources, are limited only to daytime and nighttime period, respectively. A system with 24-hour continuous energy…
We present a systematic optimization of nighttime thermoelectric power generation system utilizing radiative cooling. We show that an electrical power density over 2 W/m2, two orders of magnitude higher than the previously reported…
The coldness of the universe is a thermodynamic resource that has largely remained untapped for renewable energy generation. Recently, a growing interest in this area has led to a number of studies with the aim to realize the potential of…
We derive the thermodynamic limits of harvesting power from the outgoing thermal radiation from the ambient to the cold outer space. The derivations are based on a duality relation between thermal engines that harvest solar radiation and…
Electric power may, in principle, be generated in a highly efficient manner from heat created by focused solar irradiation, chemical combustion, or nuclear decay by means of thermionic energy conversion. As the conversion efficiency of the…
Fresh water scarcity is one of the critical challenges for global sustainable development. Several novel water resources such as passive seawater solar desalination and atmospheric water harvesting have made some progress in recent years.…
We propose a solar thermal energy conversion system consisting of a solar absorber, a thermoradiative cell or negative illumination photodiode, and a photovoltaic cell. Because it is a heat engine, this system can also be paired with…
We report that electricity can be generated from limitless thermal motion of ions by two dimensional (2D) surface of silicon wafer at room temperature. A typical silicon device, on which asymmetric electrodes with Au and Ag thin films were…
Historically, battery is the power source for mobile, embedded and remote system applications. However, the development of battery techniques does not follow the Moore's Law. The large physical size, limited electric quantity and high-cost…
Indoor light is known to be a new energy source to power uW low consumption wireless sensor networks (WSNs). For wireless electronic devices that consume tens of mW, it is still challenging to harvest this amount of power in a low light…
We propose a novel design for a lightweight, high-performance space-based solar power array combined with power beaming capability for operation in geosynchronous orbit and transmission of power to Earth. We use a modular configuration of…
The photoelectric effect induced by blackbody radiation could be a mechanism to harvest ambient thermal energy at a uniform temperature. Here, I describe (without going too much into mathematical details) the theoretical model I developed…
Although most prior research on the dew-harvesting technology has focused on nocturnal operations, achieving round-the-clock freshwater harvesting remains crucial. However, daytime dew-harvesting faces two key challenges as compared to its…
The sun (~6000 K) and outer space (~3 K) are the original heat source and sink for human beings on Earth. The energy applications of absorbing solar irradiation and harvesting the coldness of outer space for energy utilization have…
A huge amount of thermal energy is available close to material surfaces in radiative and non-radiative states, which can be useful for matter characterization or for energy devices. One way to harness this near-field energy is to scatter it…
We formulate, solve computationally and study experimentally the problem of collecting solar energy in three dimensions(1-5). We demonstrate that absorbers and reflectors can be combined in the absence of sun tracking to build…
In the close vicinity of a hot body, at distances smaller than the thermal wavelength, a high electromagnetic energy density exists due to the presence of evanescent fields radiated by the partial charges in motion around its surface. This…
The challenge in solar energy today is not the cost of photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation, already competing with fossil fuel prices, but rather utility-scale energy storage and flexibility in supply. Low-cost thermal energy storage…
Thermoelectric energy harvesters can have a much higher conversion efficiency by implementing quantum dots/wells between the high temperature region and the low temperature region. However they still suffer a limitation of the maximum…
With growing interest in multi source energy harvesting including integrated microchips we propose a comparison of radio frequency (RF) and solar energy sources in a typical city. Harvesting devices for RF and solar energy will be competing…