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Harvesting almost-unlimited energy (in tiny amounts) from ripples in graphene (interestingengineering.com)

submitted 1 year ago by will_a113@lemmy.ml to c/science@lemmy.ml

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Scientists have figured out how to harness Brownian motion -- literally the thermal energy of individual molecules -- to make electricity, by cleverly connecting diodes up to pieces of graphene, which are atom-thick sheets of Carbon. The team has successfully demonstrated their theory (which was previously thought to be impossible by prominent physicists like Richard Feynman), and are now trying to make a kind of micro-harvester that can basically produce inexhaustible power for things like smart sensors.

The most impressive thing about the system is that it doesn't require a thermal gradient to do work, like other kinds of heat-harvesting systems (Stirling engines, Peltier junctions, etc.). As long as it's a bit above absolute zero, there's enough thermal energy "in the system" to make the graphene vibrate continuously, which induces a current that the diodes can then pump out.

Original journal link: https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.108.024130

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[–] TheChurn@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is exactly what it must be doing.

Graphene is above 0K -> the atoms have some thermal energy -> harvest some of that energy as electrical potential -> graphene cools down.

The most interesting application to me is that this could be use to remove heat at an interface without needing a thermal gradient to transport the heat.

[–] SmoothIsFast@citizensgaming.com 2 points 1 year ago

I mean that depends on how quickly it actually cools down the ambient Temps no? Plus we still can't make massive sheets of graphene if I am not mistaken so wouldn't the scale of this make that impossible at this stage? I'd see the benefit for powering micro sensors via ambient Temps though.