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Engineers develop chip that converts Most Popular this week

wasted heat to usable energy
SPACE & TIME

Date: July 10, 2019 Hubble Uncovers

Black Hole That
Source: University of Utah Shouldn't Exist
Summary: Mechanical engineers have discovered a way to produce
more electricity from heat than thought possible by creating a A Material Way to
Make Mars Habitable
silicon chip, also known as a 'device,' that converts more ther-
mal radiation into electricity. This could lead to devices such
as laptop computers and cellphones with much longer battery
Supercomputer Shows
life and solar panels that are much more efficient at convert- 'Chameleon Theory'
ing radiant heat to energy. Could Change How
We Think About
Gravity
Share:
MATTER & ENERGY

FULL STORY Engineers Develop Chip That

Converts Wasted Heat to Usable
Energy
It's estimated that as much as two-thirds of energy con- Ultra-Small
sumed in the U.S. each year is wasted as heat. Take for Nanoprobes Could Be
a Leap Forward in
example, car engines, laptop computers, cell phones, even High-Resolution
refrigerators, that heat up with overuse. Human-Machine Interfaces

VR Lullaby Machine Shown to

Imagine if you could capture the heat they generate and turn it into more en- Induce Tranquil Pre-Sleep States
ergy.
COMPUTERS & MATH
University of Utah mechanical engineering associate professor Mathieu Expert Mathematicians Stumped by
Francoeur has discovered a way to produce more electricity from heat than Simple Subtractions
thought possible by creating a silicon chip, also known as a "device," that
AI Beats Professionals in Six-Player
converts more thermal radiation into electricity. His findings were published
Poker
in the paper, A Near-Field Radiative Heat Transfer Device, in the newest is-
sue of Nature Nanotechnology. How You and Your
Friends Can Play a
Researchers have previously determined that there is a theoretical "black- Video Game Together
body limit" to how much energy can be produced from thermal radiation Using Only Your Minds
(heat). But Francoeur and his team have demonstrated that they can go well
Strange & Offbeat
beyond the blackbody limit and produce more energy if they create a device
that uses two silicon surfaces very close together. The team produced a

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Engineers develop chip that converts wasted heat to usable energy -- Sci... https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190710103145.htm

5mm-by-5mm chip (about the size of an eraser head) of two silicon wafers SPACE & TIME
with a nanoscopic gap between them only 100 nanometers thick, or a thou- A Material Way to
sandth the thickness of a human hair. While the chip was in a vacuum, they Make Mars Habitable
heated one surface and cooled another surface, which created a heat flux
that can generate electricity. The concept of creating energy in this manner
is not unique, but Francoeur and his team have discovered a way to fit the Super Salty, Subzero Arctic Water
two silicon surfaces uniformly close together at a microscopic scale without Provides Peek at Possible Life on
Other Planets
touching each other. The closer they are to each other, the more electricity
they can generate. Moon-Forming Disk
Discovered Around
"Nobody can emit more radiation than the blackbody limit," he said. "But Distant Planet
when we go to the nanoscale, you can."
MATTER & ENERGY
In the future, Francoeur envisions that such technology could be used to not
only cool down portable devices like laptops and smartphones but also to A Graphene Superconductor That
channel that heat into more battery life, possibly as much as 50% more. A Plays More Than One Tune
laptop with a six-hour charge could jump to nine hours, for example. DNA Origami Joins Forces With
Molecular Motors to Build
The chips could be used to improve the efficiency of solar panels by increas- Nanoscale Machines
ing the amount of electricity from the sun's heat or in automobiles to take the
heat from the engine to help power the electrical systems. They could also 200 Times Faster Than Ever Before:
The Speediest Quantum Operation
be designed to fit in implantable medical devices such as a pacemaker that Yet
would not require replaceable batteries.
COMPUTERS & MATH
Another benefit is such technology can help improve the life of computer
processors by keeping them cool and reducing wear and tear, and it will Harvesting Energy from the Human
Knee
save more energy otherwise used for fans to cool the processors. It also
could help improve the environment, Francoeur argued. Deep Learning Algorithm Solves
Rubik's Cube Faster Than Any
"You put the heat back into the system as electricity," he said. "Right now, Human
we're just dumping it into the atmosphere. It's heating up your room, for ex-
Strange Warping Geometry Helps to
ample, and then you use your AC to cool your room, which wastes more en- Push Scientific Boundaries
ergy."

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Utah. Note: Content may be edited for

style and length.

Journal Reference:

1. John DeSutter, Lei Tang, Mathieu Francoeur. A near-field radiative

heat transfer device. Nature Nanotechnology, 2019; DOI:
10.1038/s41565-019-0483-1

Cite This Page:

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University of Utah. "Engineers develop chip that converts wasted heat to us-
able energy." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 July 2019. <www.sci-
encedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190710103145.htm>.

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