Thermo-photovoltaic meta material withstands high temperatures
Using temperature differences to generate electric energy is a known and proven approach. Turning radiated heat – nothing else than infrared radiation – into electricity is also not really new, but in practical use, this branch of science, called thermo-photovoltaics, has lagged behind so far. Scientists from the Hamburg Technical University (TUHH) stacked nanometer-thin layers of highly temperature-stable materials tungsten and hafnium oxide to create an optical metamaterial. The thickness of the tungsten layer was 5.000 times thinner than a human hair. This material is suppressing the emission of unwanted long wave heat radiation at temperatures of 1000°C, but it allows radiation of shorter infrared waves to pass. These shorter waves (closer to visible light) can be utilized more easily.
By suppressing the long-wave infrared emission, the efficiency of thermo-photovoltaic converters can be increased significantly. Such converters are used to convert sun radiation or waste heat from industrial processes into electricity. The Hamburg scientists succeeded in proving that a selective emission is possible at temperatures up to 1000°C if metamaterials are used – a world’s first, as they emphasized. They also achieved a record in terms of durability: No other optical metamaterial can stand such high temperatures.
The optical nanomaterials have been developed in the collaborative research center 986 (“Customized multi-scale material systems) of the TUHH. “Together with our collaboration partners from the University of Alberta, we succeeded in combining all necessary capabilities from the theory and electromagnetic simulation to the production of the layers to the optical, thermal and structural analytical characterization”, commented Manfred Eich, one of the spokespersons of the collaborative research center.
More information: https://www.tuhh.de/alt/oem/home/html
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
