Sun-Free Photovoltaics

A variety of silicon chip micro-reactors developed by the MIT team (Credit: Photo by Justin Knight)

Materials Engineered to Give Off Precisely Tuned Wavelengths of Light When Heated.

A new photovoltaic energy-conversion system developed at MIT can be powered solely by heat, generating electricity with no sunlight at all. While the principle involved is not new, a novel way of engineering the surface of a material to convert heat into precisely tuned wavelengths of light -- selected to match the wavelengths that photovoltaic cells can best convert to electricity -- makes the new system much more efficient than previous versions.

The key to this fine-tuned light emission, described in the journal Physical Review A, lies in a material with billions of nanoscale pits etched on its surface. When the material absorbs heat -- whether from the sun, a hydrocarbon fuel, a decaying radioisotope or any other source -- the pitted surface radiates energy primarily at these carefully chosen wavelengths.

For more on this article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110730180245.htm

Source: Science Daily / University of Toronto