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Nanoantennas Convert Heat Energy into Electricity at Idaho DOE Lab Researchers at the DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory have developed an economical way to produce plastic sheets containing billions of tiny nanoantannas capable of collecting heat energy from the sun or from other sources.
Methods to convert the energy collected by the material have yet to be developed. But scientists envision a host of potential uses for the lightweight material, from powering hybrid cars to acting as cooling devices by drawing waste heat from buildings or electronics without the use of electricity.
Researchers studied the behavior of various materials under infrared rays to build computer models of nanoantennas before creating real-life prototypes in silicon and embossing them in thin sheets of plastic.
In contrast to traditional solar cells, which rely on a chemical reaction to generate electricity from visible light, these nanoantennas are able to absorb the energy of mid-infrared rays. At night, this frequency is continuously radiated by the Earth as heat, the result of solar energy absorbed during the day.
Infrared radiation is also generated by coal-fired plants and many other industrial processes, representing wasted energy lost in the form of heat.
Alternating currents in the nanoantennas will pose challenges to scientists developing a means to funnel the energy they collect into usable electricity, however. The currents, which oscillate trillions of times per second, require a component known as a “rectifier” to convert the alternating current into a direct current, and ordinary rectifiers aren’t capable of handling such high frequencies. If a solution to the rectifier issue can be found, nanoantennas could represent a cheaper, far more efficient alternative to solar cells. Return to September 2008 Western Energy News To sponsor Western Energy News , please contact WEI at 503 231-1994.
Copyright © 2008. Reuse of this publication or its contents is allowed with credit to Western Energy Institute. WEI - 827 NE Oregon Street, Portland, Oregon 97232-2172
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