Related papers: Optimizing the performance of thermionic devices u…
Quantum technologies are developing powerful tools to generate and manipulate coherent superpositions of different energy levels. Envisaging a new generation of energy-efficient quantum devices, here we explore how coherence can be…
We study how to achieve the ultimate power in the simplest, yet non trivial, model of a thermal machine, namely a two-level quantum system coupled to two thermal baths. Without making any prior assumption on the protocol, via optimal…
We propose an optimal operation control strategy for an electro-thermal microgrid. Compared to existing work, our approach increases flexibility by operating the thermal network with variable flow temperatures and in that way explicitly…
The difficulty of modeling energy consumption in communication systems leads to challenges in energy harvesting (EH) systems, in which nodes scavenge energy from their environment. An EH receiver must harvest enough energy for demodulating…
The limited spectrum resources and dramatic growth of high data rate communications have motivated opportunistic spectrum access using the promising concept of cognitive radio networks. Although this concept has emerged primarily to enhance…
Absorption refrigerators transfer thermal energy from a cold bath to a hot bath without input power by utilizing heat from an additional "work" reservoir. Particularly interesting is a three-level design for a quantum absorption…
Heat engines cannot generally operate at maximum power and efficiency, imposing a trade-off between the two. Here, we highlight the exact nature of this trade-off for engines that exchange heat radiatively with a hot source. We derive…
Producing useful electrical work in consuming chemical energy, the fuel cell have to reject heat to its surrounding. However, as it occurs for any other type of engine, this thermal energy cannot be exchanged in an isothermal way in finite…
Multi-terminal multi-dot devices have been put forward as versatile and performant setups for thermoelectric energy harvesting at the nanoscale. With a technique that encompasses and overtakes several of the usual theoretical tools used in…
Conversion of electric current into heat involves microscopic processes that operate on nanometer length-scales and release minute amounts of power. While central to our understanding of the electrical properties of materials, individual…
Direct thermal-to-electric energy converters typically operate in the linear regime, where the ratio of actual maximum power relative to the ideal maximum power, the so-called fill factor (FF), is 0.25. By increasing the FF one can…
This article proposes a new energy harvesting concept that greatly enhances thermionic power generation with high e ciency by exploiting the near- field enhancement of thermal radiation. The proposed near-field enhanced thermionic energy…
The qualities of electron refrigeration by means of tunnel junctions between superconducting and normal--metal electrodes are studied theoretically. A suitable approximation of the basic expression for the heat current across those tunnel…
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…
We consider the design of an optimal superlattice thermoelectric generator via the energy bandpass filter approach. Various configurations of superlattice structures are explored to obtain a bandpass transmission spectrum that approaches…
Quantum thermodynamics supplies a consistent description of quantum heat engines and refrigerators up to the level of a single few level system coupled to the environment. Once the environment is split into three;a hot, cold and work…
We theoretically investigate nonlinear ballistic thermoelectric transport in a superlattice-structured nanowire. By a special choice of nonuniform widths of the superlattice barriers - analogous to anti-reflection coating in optical systems…
Quantum thermal machines offer promising platforms for exploring the fundamental limits of thermodynamics at the microscopic scale. The previous study demonstrated that the incorporation of a catalyst can significantly enhance the…
Innovative ways of harnessing sustainable energy are needed to meet the world's ever-increasing energy demands. Supercapacitors may contribute, as they can convert waste heat to electricity through cyclic charging and discharging at…
This paper considers orthogonal frequency division multiple access systems with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer. We study the resource allocation algorithm design for maximization of the energy efficiency of data…