Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme
Thermal to electric energy conversion with thermophotovoltaics relies on radiation emitted by a hot body, which limits the power per unit area to that of a blackbody. Microgap thermophotovoltaics take advantage of evanescent waves to obtain higher throughput, with the power per unit area limited by...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Institute of Physics (AIP)
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/71634 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4260-5940 |
| _version_ | 1811082580988002304 |
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| author | Wu, D. M. Hagelstein, Peter L. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Wu, D. M. Hagelstein, Peter L. |
| author_sort | Wu, D. M. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thermal to electric energy conversion with thermophotovoltaics relies on radiation emitted by a hot body, which limits the power per unit area to that of a blackbody. Microgap thermophotovoltaics take advantage of evanescent waves to obtain higher throughput, with the power per unit area limited by the internal blackbody, which is n2 higher. We propose that even higher power per unit area can be achieved by taking advantage of thermal fluctuations in the near-surface electric fields. For this, we require a converter that couples to dipoles on the hot side, transferring excitation to promote carriers on the cold side which can be used to drive an electrical load. We analyze the simplest implementation of the scheme, in which excitation transfer occurs between matched quantum dots. Next, we examine thermal to electric conversion with a lossy dielectric (aluminum oxide) hot-side surface layer. We show that the throughput power per unit active area can exceed the n2 blackbody limit with this kind of converter. With the use of small quantum dots, the scheme becomes very efficient theoretically, but will require advances in technology to fabricate. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:05:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/71634 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:05:40Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | American Institute of Physics (AIP) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/716342022-09-28T00:03:27Z Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme Wu, D. M. Hagelstein, Peter L. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics Hagelstein, Peter L. Wu, D. M. Hagelstein, Peter L. Thermal to electric energy conversion with thermophotovoltaics relies on radiation emitted by a hot body, which limits the power per unit area to that of a blackbody. Microgap thermophotovoltaics take advantage of evanescent waves to obtain higher throughput, with the power per unit area limited by the internal blackbody, which is n2 higher. We propose that even higher power per unit area can be achieved by taking advantage of thermal fluctuations in the near-surface electric fields. For this, we require a converter that couples to dipoles on the hot side, transferring excitation to promote carriers on the cold side which can be used to drive an electrical load. We analyze the simplest implementation of the scheme, in which excitation transfer occurs between matched quantum dots. Next, we examine thermal to electric conversion with a lossy dielectric (aluminum oxide) hot-side surface layer. We show that the throughput power per unit active area can exceed the n2 blackbody limit with this kind of converter. With the use of small quantum dots, the scheme becomes very efficient theoretically, but will require advances in technology to fabricate. 2012-07-16T20:04:30Z 2012-07-16T20:04:30Z 2009-11 2009-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0021-8979 1089-7550 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/71634 Wu, D. M. et al. “Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme.” Journal of Applied Physics 106.9 (2009): 094315. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4260-5940 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3257402 Journal of Applied Physics Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf American Institute of Physics (AIP) Hagelstein via Amy Stout |
| spellingShingle | Wu, D. M. Hagelstein, Peter L. Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme |
| title | Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme |
| title_full | Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme |
| title_fullStr | Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme |
| title_short | Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme |
| title_sort | quantum coupled single electron thermal to electric conversion scheme |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/71634 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4260-5940 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wudm quantumcoupledsingleelectronthermaltoelectricconversionscheme AT hagelsteinpeterl quantumcoupledsingleelectronthermaltoelectricconversionscheme |