Related papers: Micro/nanoscale spacers for enhanced thermophotovo…
Solid-state heat-to-electrical power converters are thermodynamic engines that use fundamental particles, such as electrons or photons, as working fluids. Virtually all commercially available devices are thermoelectric generators, in which…
This work investigates an alternative to thermophotovoltaics for harvesting thermal and optical energy via photon coupling and thermionic energy conversion. In this device, a heat source is radiatively coupled to a thermionic electron…
Over the past years, thermionic energy conversion (TEC) with a reduced inter-electrode vacuum gap has been studied as an effective way to mitigate a large potential barrier due to space charge accumulation. However, existing theoretical…
Thermophotovoltaics, devices that convert thermal infrared photons to electricity, offer a key pathway for a variety of critical renewable energy technologies including thermal energy storage, waste heat recovery, and direct solar-thermal…
We introduce new micron-gap thermophotovoltaic systems enhanced by tungsten nanowires. We theoretically show that these systems allow the frequency-selective super-Planckian spectrum of radiative heat transfer that promises a very efficient…
Thermionic converters generate electricity from thermal energy in a power cycle based on vacuum emission of electrons. While thermodynamically efficient, practical implementations are limited by the extreme temperatures required for…
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 present a comprehensive analysis of a dual, micro-gap thermionic-thermoelectric hybrid energy converter by developing a detailed theoretical model of the system. The Space-charge and near-field effects in thermionic conversion and the…
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…
Advances in solid-state device design now allow the spectrum of transmitted electrons in thermionic and thermoelectric devices to be engineered in ways that were not previously possible. Here we show that the shape of the electron energy…
Miniaturization of electronic devices aims at manufacturing ever smaller products, from mesoscopic to nanoscopic sizes. This trend is challenging because the increased levels of dissipated power demands a better understanding of heat…
Solid-state thermoelectric devices are currently used in applications ranging from thermocouple sensors to power generators in satellites, to portable air-conditioners and refrigerators. With the ever-rising demand throughout the world for…
Nanophotonics is an important branch of modern optics dealing with light-matter interaction at the nanoscale. Nanoparticles can exhibit enhanced light absorption under illumination by light, and they become nanoscale sources of heat that…
Topological photonic systems, with their ability to host states protected against disorder and perturbation, allow us to do with photons what topological insulators do with electrons. Topological photonics can refer to electronic systems…
We review recent theoretical developments on the nanoscale radiative heat transfer in magneto-optical many-particle systems. We discuss in detail the circular heat flux, the giant magneto-resistance effect, the persistent heat current, and…
Unlike conventional optics, plasmonics enables unrivalled concentration of optical energy well beyond the diffraction limit of light. However, a significant part of this energy is dissipated as heat. Plasmonic losses present a major hurdle…
This work presents a detailed analysis of the photothermionic-photovoltaic hybrid solar device. The electrons in this hybrid device gain energy from both the solar photons and thermophotons generated within the device, and hence the device…
Recent experimental studies on near-field thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy conversion have mainly focused on enhancing performance via photon tunneling of evanescent waves. In the sub-micron gap, however, there exist peculiar phenomena…
We theoretically show that a thermophotovoltaic (TPV) system enhanced by a wire metamaterial opens the door to a prospective microgap thermophotovoltaics which will combine high electric output with relatively low temperatures of the…
The emission of thermal radiation is a physical process of fundamental and technological interest. From different approaches, thermal radiation can be regarded either as one of the basic mechanisms of heat transfer, as a fundamental quantum…