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Nanoantennas Possible Replacement For Solar Cells
tgdaily.com — Imagine the possibilities of harvesting waste heat and converting it into electricity. Computer processors could be the source of power for their own cooling devices and solar cells could become dramatically more efficient by leveraging energy that is not being used today.If everything goes right, nanoantennas could even replace solar cells one day
optimusprime01- 758 diggs
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- MarkusX, on 08/13/2008, -0/+19This is just amazing.
I was always thinking we should capture the wasted head that is produced by pretty much everything.
Everytime I use my vacuum I sweat like a pig, if the heat generated by the device could somehow be recycled, that would be great.
Of course, not just with vacuums, but ANYTHING that produces heat, that's the beauty of this concept.
Could become revolutionary, this technology.
Go nanoantennas go.- jsd8cc, on 08/13/2008, -0/+6FTA: "You know there is always a catch and this research result is no exception. While the energy can be harvested, the scientists have found no solution yet to convert the energy into electricity. According to the scientists, “more technological advances” are necessary to turn this vision into reality. They said that infrared rays create alternating currents in the nanoantennas that oscillate trillions of times per second, requiring a component called a rectifier to convert the alternating current to direct current and today's rectifiers can't handle such high frequencies. A nanoscale rectifier suited for this application in fact would need to be about 1,000 times smaller than current commercial devices and will require new manufacturing methods, according to the scientists."
The last paragraph is always a bitch, eh? - zantos420, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1"Everytime I use my vacuum I sweat like a pig"
you may want to try going outside more...- MarkusX, on 08/13/2008, -0/+2Thanks. Rethinking my example, I was just waiting for a comment like that.
- jsd8cc, on 08/13/2008, -0/+6FTA: "You know there is always a catch and this research result is no exception. While the energy can be harvested, the scientists have found no solution yet to convert the energy into electricity. According to the scientists, “more technological advances” are necessary to turn this vision into reality. They said that infrared rays create alternating currents in the nanoantennas that oscillate trillions of times per second, requiring a component called a rectifier to convert the alternating current to direct current and today's rectifiers can't handle such high frequencies. A nanoscale rectifier suited for this application in fact would need to be about 1,000 times smaller than current commercial devices and will require new manufacturing methods, according to the scientists."
- PeterNorton, on 08/13/2008, -0/+4It is an exciting time to live in. I feel that there are more ideas to solve energy problems than ever before. If onlye 1% of these ideas will come true, I think we will be in good shape.
- phibit, on 08/13/2008, -0/+6"A nanoscale rectifier suited for this application in fact would need to be about 1,000 times smaller than current commercial devices".
According to Moore's Law, that's about 15 years away (assuming transistor size is halved every 18 months).- ZerawBanned, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1When we will enter into singularity, energy wouldn't be a problem anymore. If the Moore's Law continues to apply in the next decades, we will finish by building a Dyson Sphere around the sun.
- phibit, on 08/13/2008, -1/+4After singularity, the machines will probably realize we're all useless, and start using US as their energy source (see The Matrix).
- Necoras, on 08/13/2008, -1/+2Moore's law has nothing to do with this. You're not building transistors here, you're building a transformer.
- phibit, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1Not at all. They're talking about rectifiers, to turn high frequency alternating currents into more practical currents = transistors.
Transformers do voltage scaling, they don't (really) alter frequency, they just create a phase change due to the high inductance.
- phibit, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1Not at all. They're talking about rectifiers, to turn high frequency alternating currents into more practical currents = transistors.
- ZerawBanned, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1When we will enter into singularity, energy wouldn't be a problem anymore. If the Moore's Law continues to apply in the next decades, we will finish by building a Dyson Sphere around the sun.
- andypop481, on 08/13/2008, -3/+10http://digg.com/environment/Nanoantenna_Arrays_See ...
not even a day ago. come on.- Residents, on 08/13/2008, -3/+3I was just going to say the same thing. People please SEARCH for you article before posting it.
- 7FluidAH, on 08/13/2008, -3/+5Same subject, different article. Are we really only allowed to read one person's point of view on a given subject?
- imasuperDOTcom, on 08/13/2008, -3/+1Yeah but it causes cancer and makes your pee pee fall off.
- AchaIemoipas, on 08/13/2008, -6/+2This site's dead.
No news anymore and the little news you get can be a year old. Not even one actual news article in the top ten.
Digg got facebooked. Good day. - kronzdigg, on 08/13/2008, -0/+3who is john galt?
- HumanGlitch, on 08/13/2008, -3/+2Your real father
- kronzdigg, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1I wish.
- HumanGlitch, on 08/13/2008, -3/+2Your real father
- 7FluidAH, on 08/13/2008, -0/+2"The approach does not focus on collecting sunlight, but flexible nanoantenna arrays that capture abundant solar energy mid-infrared rays radiated by the Earth as heat after absorbing energy from the sun during the day."
Fantastic. So much of the heat we produce is wasted -- from light bulbs, car engines, household appliances, and so forth. I can't wait to see how this technology develops. Moreover, I love that it finds a way around one of solar power's very few drawbacks -- the inability to collect and convert energy at night. - duckyinc, on 08/13/2008, -1/+2WELCOME TO YESTERDAY LAND!
- StrawberryFrog, on 08/13/2008, -1/+8"nanoantennas that collect heat energy ... while the energy can be harvested, the scientists have found no solution yet to convert the energy into electricity. "
"collected but not harvested"- what?
What is the breakthrough here? no electricity is being generated. What form is the energy in? Any dark object can "harvest" energy from light by .. getting hot. Film at 11.
There seems to be a lot of waffle in the article for something quite simple. If there's a subtle technical twist about these nanomaterials being good at absorbing particular wavelengths or something that normal solar water heaters aren't, then it was lost in translation by a non-technical journalist.
Call me back when a competent writer explains it.- drgreenberg, on 08/13/2008, -0/+0'Any dark object can "harvest" energy from light by .. getting hot.'
Exactly. An antenna that generates an electrical signal in response to IR frequencies is basically having its electrons heated. About the only breakthrough can be allowing this thermal energy to be harvested from the electron cloud before the cloud equilibrates with the lattice and heats up the material as a whole.
- drgreenberg, on 08/13/2008, -0/+0'Any dark object can "harvest" energy from light by .. getting hot.'
- monsterette, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1....great constructive use of energy and waste...
- dsa204, on 08/13/2008, -2/+0This myth has been busted.
- D14BL0, on 08/13/2008, -1/+1It's not explained too well in this article, but I get what the author is trying to say.
If any of you have played Rocket: Robot on Wheels, if you read any of the backstory in the manual, you'll see that this method is what "powered" your character in the game.
Essentially, heat from a machine actually being used gets reused. Ideally, if perfected, it would create an infinite supply of energy, but don't hold your breath. I don't see something like this actually happening for a long time, yet.- samcrut, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1This is worthless until someone finds a way to convert heat to electricity. Today heat makes steam and steam makes kinetic energy which spins the turbine with the magnets which makes the electricity. There is no way to go straight from heat to electrical power. When they do that, you'll see the whole world change.
- chocolatespoon, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1Soon we will need to harvest any and all heat we can find and end up in a frozed, heat deprived world. Yay.
- aladrin, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1From Global Warming, right?
- MrFurious2k, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1Sounds cool, but a long, long ways off.
- evodevo1, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1This only collects in the infrared wavelengths. What about all the other wavelengths in the visible and UV range? I doubt this will replace current solar panels. It should be used in addition to current panels though.
- ibmetom, on 08/13/2008, -0/+0"Computer processors could be the source of power for their own cooling devices ", hey buddy go smoke another one.
- joemommasfat, on 08/13/2008, -0/+1Lisa, in this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics
- cocoabear, on 08/13/2008, -0/+0I met the director of this research at INL at a conference, and it's a really neat technology. They have two main hurdles: converting the waste heat to electricity and the cost to manufacture these sheets. The guy is really sharp, and I could see these problems being solved in the next 5 years.
- sparechange, on 08/14/2008, -0/+1Brilliant!
- htomfields, on 08/25/2008, -0/+0There is a video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fuofnZM5eE
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