IR radiation solar panel uses tiny antennas, has 80% efficiency
Posted by Dimitrios Matsoulis on February 5, 2008
Source: Idaho National Laboratory
There is all sorts of ways to produce clean energy, but the smartest and cleanest of all is definitely solar panels. There is absolutely no moving parts, noise or intermediate materials. Just beautiful clean energy. The catch? Low efficiency that in reality is far from the theoretical 20%, high manufacturing costs and productivity only during daytime -preferably with lots of sunshine. The researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory are addressing all these shortcomings. By putting loads of nanoantennas on cheap base material, they manage to collect energy in infra-red frequencies by day and night.
Nanoantennas are a clever way to collect IR radiation that is very small wavelength itself. Tests started as a supplement to conventional solar panels, but progress was such that IR panel research became a project on its own. It is hoped that with nanotechnology manufacturing progress IR panels will be incredibly cheap, and as the substrate is flexible they will be installed practically everywhere. Due to intense packing of the small spirals and the fact that everything is tiny and undetectable by eye, special software will tune and arrange the pattern in ways that will not cause material damage. Panels could even be double-sided with the second face collecting the IR radiated from the earth!
The least developed part of the project is energy conversion, something that is not possible at the moment and is admittedly a headache. If the high frequency current is not converted to the 50/60 Hz we normally use or DC for battery charging, it is unusable. Researchers are on their way to address this issue by integrating in their design capacitors or diodes that will do the trick.
Although energy collection efficiency is estimated as high as 80%, when power conversion takes place it is highly unlikely that the final figure will stay so high. However, cheap manufacturing, 24/7 clean energy production and the potential for efficiencies much higher than current solar panels make IR panels a splendid proposal for our energy future. Among the daily bombardment of pessimistic global warming news and oil wars, it feels great to know that technology is on its way to providing solutions.
Link 1: Ecogeek
Link 2: Idaho National Laboratory
Ramsey Frist said
Has anyone pointed out that such a device would violate the second law of thermodynamics? If such a device could work one could use it to transfer energy from one body to another even if both started at the same temperature and were both in an insulated box. This can not happen in our universe.
Lich said
“Has anyone pointed out that such a device would violate the second law of thermodynamics?”
To be fair, the last paragraph does state the efficiency caveat. As far as I’m concerned thermodynamics “violations” are not a catch all for phemonema that appear impossible. It all depends on how you define the system and whether or not you have really accounted for all the energy flows. Look into second law violations which are numerous. See Ilya Prigogine’s nobel prize in chemistry(1977) and non-equilibrium steady state systems.
Ramsey Frist said
I know of no exceptions to the 2nd Law since the Big Bang. Prigogine made no claim against the 2nd law in his non-equilibrium studies. In fact, he said “we must first introduce the Second Law before being able to define the entities (of his systems)”.
The harnessing of energy capable of doing work must be paid for by and increase in entropy of the universe. Where is the increase in entropy in the proposed nanoantenna system?
In measuring the efficiency I believe they used IR from a laser turning low entropy coherent light into heat. In absorbing high entropy black body radiation or sunlight would they be any more efficient than black painted tin? With fast diodes with incredibly low forward voltage they might be able to rectify laser light but not black body radiation.
MrObvious said
You say thermodynamics, I say simple energy conversion.
Solar panels convert light into electricity all the time.
This is no different. In fact there are systems right now that convert IR at about 35% efficiency. Those are based on work done by Quantum Dot Corp. A Canadian company is making custom molded plastics out of them – mostly for military applications (cool power generating tents for example).
If someone manages to get the same out of carbon based technology, that should make it affordable enough for civilian use.
It sounds like they need to do some form of rectification and filtering inside the panel at the individual receptors. It will probably be awhile before they manage that. I don’t know who will come out with a working carbon based IR solution first, or when; but, I am sure it will happen.
Ramsey Frist said
Solar panels absorb low entropy (short wavelength) light and radiate high entropy infrared which pays for the energy produced. One cannot simply convert waste heat to energy without increasing the entropy of the surroundings.
In any case,why bother with the antennas? If you can get diodes with such low forward voltage the thermal motion of the electrons would be sufficient to drive them through such magic one way valves. Maxwell’s demons cannot function and never will.