Obviously nothing is infinite, but on a global scale and human it can be considered as well ... because millions of gigawatts is not bad anyway!
And if the infinite energy, clean and free, came from infrared radiation?
Infrared rays, which pass right through the Earth, can be converted into energy thanks to a new process based on the "quantum tunneling effect".
Saudi researchers have just discovered a way to recover heat from infrared radiation and turn it into clean, renewable energy. In their study published in Materials Today Energy, they explain having achieved this feat thanks to tiny antennas operating thanks to the "tunnel effect", a phenomenon resulting from quantum mechanics.
To understand the importance of their discovery, we must first recall a few facts. Most of the sun's light reaching the Earth's surface is absorbed by soils, oceans and the atmosphere, warming the Earth. This heating causes permanent emissions of infrared radiation. According to expert estimates, these radiations would produce millions of gigawatts. In comparison, the Gravelines nuclear power plant, the most powerful in France, produces 5460 megawatts.
"Solar panels 24 hours a day"
The goal of scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, was to detect this radiation and "capture" it to convert it into electricity. The interest? "Unlike the energy from solar panels, which are limited by daylight and weather conditions, infrared heat energy can be harvested 24 hours a day," said Atif Shamin, lead author of the study, on the site of the Saudi university. "Being able to harvest this energy could completely disrupt the renewable energy sector", add the researchers in their study.
Which is good, since they have just found a solution. “One way to do this is to treat infrared heat like high frequency electromagnetic waves. Using appropriate antennas, the captured waves are sent to a semiconductor diode, which transforms the AC signal [of the 'wave] by current to recharge a battery or any electrical equipment ", details Atif Shamin.
Nanoscopic antennas
Obviously, all the difficulty of the project lay in the design of these famous "rectifier antennas" [antennas capable of converting radiofrequency energy into direct current]. "Infrared emissions have such short wavelengths that you need micro antennas, or rather nanoscopic [of a billionth of a meter]", continues the researcher. Clear? Capturing these waves requires antennas completely invisible to the naked eye, much smaller than a millimeter.
Until now, there was no device in the world capable of transforming these waves into electricity, the researchers underline. And that's why they turned to a device using the tunnel effect, a phenomenon very common in quantum mechanics.
The simplest example to understand this is that of a ball to climb a hill. In classical physics, if the ball has not been propelled with enough energy, it does not go up. But in quantum physics, the ball can pass under the hill, even with limited energy, thanks to the uncertainty principle, which applies to the world of the infinitely small.
By exploiting this phenomenon, the researchers built, in their dedicated laboratory, a nano-diode capable of transforming infrared waves into energy making electrons pass through a small barrier. All they had to do was create antennas capable of creating a magnetic field powerful enough to "push" the electrons through a barrier, which can be compared to the "hill" in the previous example.
"Proof that the concept works"
“The hardest part was having the two arms of our antenna overlapped, on a nanoscale, [which held the barrier in the center of the device], says Gaurav Jayaswal, another researcher at KAUST University. we succeeded."
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As a result, the researchers were able to transform infrared radiation into energy. Obviously, their prototype cannot yet supply the world with electricity, nor Saudi Arabia, nor even a cell phone. "We are at the very beginning, this is only proof that the concept works", acknowledges Atif Shamim. But, by producing millions of their mini-wave sensors, "then we could improve global power generation," he hopes. One more step towards independence from fossil fuels.
Hey bin zamis if it really works (sustainability?) And it's not too expensive to implement it will be a new industrial revolution!
(and 3 times less than nuclear amortized)
