Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/K016857/1
Title:	Electronic nanodevices for energy harvesting: a novel approach to thermal-energy conversion
Principal Investigator:	Balocco, Professor C
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Department:	Engineering and Computing Sciences
Organisation:	Durham, University of
Scheme:	First Grant - Revised 2009
Starts:	26 June 2013	Ends:	25 June 2014	Value (£):	98,113
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Panel History:	Panel Date Panel Name Outcome 09 Oct 2012 EPSRC ICT Responsive Mode - Oct 2012 Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
Every hot body emits a large power in the form of infrared radiation. Electronic equipment, appliances, car exhausts and high-temperature industrial processes, can thus provide an untapped -and currently wasted- energy reservoir. The amount of power is startling: an object at a temperature of 600 C emits 33 kW/m2, while an adult human body approximately 100 W. The proposed work explores the application of a rectenna (RECtifier + antENNA) for harvesting this thermal radiation and converting it into useable electrical power, with potential to develop a disruptive technology. Rectennas consists of a microantenna that captures infrared thermal radiation connected to rectifier, which converts the radiation to DC electrical power. The concept is not new, and it was already investigated by Brown in the 1960s at microwave frequency to transmit power wirelessly, with efficiencies above 80%. However, thermal radiation is located at much higher frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, tens of terahertz (THz), which means that the rectifiers must be more than ten thousand times faster. The rectifier proposed in this work is based on the self-switching nanodiode (SSD), a novel semiconductor nanodevice consisting of an asymmetric nanochannel, whose room-temperature operation in the THz range was pioneered by Dr Balocco. Planar microantennas will be integrated with an array of approximately 1000 SSDs connected in parallel, in order to reduce the internal resistance of the rectenna, and hence increase their output power. Because of their compact structures, slim form factor and absence of moving parts, electrical generators based on these new devices will find application in industrial waste-heat scavenging, and where space is at premium, such as smart sensors, mobile and combined heat-power (CHP) systems. For industrial applications, where space might not been a concern, the use of rectennas enables the recovery of the low-grade energy lost during high-temperature processes. The solid-state nature of these devices and their robustness requires little maintenance, and are easy to install. Smart sensors operating in an environment where hot bodies, or other sources of infrared radiation, are available, can take advantage of rectennas' compactness. Even if a low electrical power is converted, this is sufficient to intermittently power the sensor. Combined heat-power systems and microgeneration in general, can couple rectennas to recover the lost thermal power radiated by the gas burner assembly. A more ambitious application is indirect solar-energy conversion, where the heat stored in a medium during the day (such as molten salt at ~500 C) is used during the night to produce electrical power. Here, rectennas may provide an alternative solid-state approach to the steam-turbine technology currently in use.
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