Power Generation from a Radiative Thermal Source Using a Large-Area Infrared Rectenna

Shank, Joshua; Kadlec, Emil A.; Jarecki, Robert L.; Starbuck, Andrew; Howell, Stephen; Peters, David W.; Davids, Paul S.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.054040

Title: Power Generation from a Radiative Thermal Source Using a Large-Area Infrared Rectenna

Journal Article · Fri May 25 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physical Review Applied

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.054040· OSTI ID:1464206

Shank, Joshua ^[1]; Kadlec, Emil A. ^[1]; Jarecki, Robert L. ^[1]; Starbuck, Andrew ^[1]; Howell, Stephen ^[1]; Peters, David W. ^[1]; Davids, Paul S. ^[1]

Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Electrical power generation from a moderate-temperature thermal source by means of direct conversion of infrared radiation is important and highly desirable for energy harvesting from waste heat and micropower applications. Here, we demonstrate direct rectified power generation from an unbiased large-area nanoantenna-coupled tunnel diode rectifier called a rectenna. Using a vacuum radiometric measurement technique with irradiation from a temperature-stabilized thermal source, a generated power density of 8 nW / cm² is observed at a source temperature of 450°C for the unbiased rectenna across an optimized load resistance. The optimized load resistance for the peak power generation for each temperature coincides with the tunnel diode resistance at zero bias and corresponds to the impedance matching condition for a rectifying antenna. Current-voltage measurements of a thermally illuminated large-area rectenna show current zero crossing shifts into the second quadrant indicating rectification. Photon-assisted tunneling in the unbiased rectenna is modeled as the mechanism for the large short-circuit photocurrents observed where the photon energy serves as an effective bias across the tunnel junction. Furthermore, the measured current and voltage across the load resistor as a function of the thermal source temperature represents direct current electrical power generation.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 1464206

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1439137

Report Number(s):: SAND-2018-2950J; PRAHB2; 662295; TRN: US1902381

Journal Information:: Physical Review Applied, Vol. 9, Issue 5; ISSN 2331-7019

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 9 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (30)

Multiphoton Process Observed in the Interaction of Microwave Fields with the Tunneling between Superconductor Films Tien, P. K.; Gordon, J. P. Physical Review, Vol. 129, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.129.647	journal	January 1963
Infrared Absorption at Longitudinal Optic Frequency in Cubic Crystal Films Berreman, D. W. Physical Review, Vol. 130, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.130.2193	journal	June 1963
Traveling-Wave Metal/Insulator/Metal Diodes for Improved Infrared Bandwidth and Efficiency of Antenna-Coupled Rectifiers Grover, Sachit; Dmitriyeva, Olga; Estes, Michael J. IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, Vol. 9, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1109/TNANO.2010.2051334	journal	November 2010
Infrared rectification in a nanoantenna-coupled metal-oxide-semiconductor tunnel diode Davids, Paul S.; Jarecki, Robert L.; Starbuck, Andrew Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 10, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.216	journal	September 2015
Epsilon-Near-Zero Modes for Tailored Light-Matter Interaction Campione, Salvatore; Liu, Sheng; Benz, Alexander Physical Review Applied, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.4.044011	journal	October 2015
Silicon heterojunction solar cell with interdigitated back contacts for a photoconversion efficiency over 26% Yoshikawa, Kunta; Kawasaki, Hayato; Yoshida, Wataru Nature Energy, Vol. 2, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2017.32	journal	March 2017
Recycling Ambient Microwave Energy With Broad-Band Rectenna Arrays Hagerty, J. A.; Helmbrecht, F. B.; McCalpin, W. H. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 52, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2004.823585	journal	March 2004
Infrared Spatial and Frequency Selective Metamaterial with Near-Unity Absorbance Liu, Xianliang; Starr, Tatiana; Starr, Anthony F. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.207403	journal	May 2010
Epsilon-near-zero metamaterials and electromagnetic sources: Tailoring the radiation phase pattern Alù, Andrea; Silveirinha, Mário G.; Salandrino, Alessandro Physical Review B, Vol. 75, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.75.155410	journal	April 2007
Superconductive Tunneling Cohen, M. H.; Falicov, L. M.; Phillips, J. C. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.8.316	journal	April 1962
A carbon nanotube optical rectenna Sharma, Asha; Singh, Virendra; Bougher, Thomas L. Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 10, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.220	journal	September 2015
Density matrix approach to photon-assisted tunneling in the transfer Hamiltonian formalism Davids, Paul S.; Shank, Joshua Physical Review B, Vol. 97, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.97.075411	journal	February 2018
Design and experiments of a high-conversion-efficiency 5.8-GHz rectenna McSpadden, J. O. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 46, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1109/22.739282	journal	January 1998
Tunneling Into Superconductors Bardeen, John Physical Review Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.9.147	journal	August 1962
Conversion efficiency of broad-band rectennas for solar energy harvesting applications Briones, Edgar; Alda, Javier; González, Francisco Javier Optics Express, Vol. 21, Issue S3 https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.21.00A412	journal	January 2013
Photon-Assisted Electric Field Domains and Multiphoton-Assisted Tunneling in Semiconductor Superlattices Keay, B. J.; Allen, S. J.; Galán, J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 75, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.4098	journal	November 1995
Optical rectification using geometrical field enhancement in gold nano-arrays Piltan, S.; Sievenpiper, D. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 122, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4995995	journal	November 2017
Photon-Phonon-Enhanced Infrared Rectification in a Two-Dimensional Nanoantenna-Coupled Tunnel Diode Kadlec, Emil A.; Jarecki, Robert L.; Starbuck, Andrew Physical Review Applied, Vol. 6, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.6.064019	journal	December 2016
The MOM tunneling diode: Theoretical estimate of its performance at microwave and infrared frequencies Sanchez, A.; Davis, C. F.; Liu, K. C. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 49, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.324426	journal	October 1978
Dependence of the Si‐SiO ₂ barrier height on SiO ₂ thickness in MOS tunnel structures Kasprzak, L. A.; Laibowitz, R. B.; Ohring, M. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 48, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.323415	journal	October 1977
Rectennas Revisited BareiB, Mario; Krenz, Peter M.; Szakmany, Gergo P. IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, Vol. 12, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1109/TNANO.2013.2281373	journal	November 2013
Quantum Interaction of Microwave Radiation with Tunneling Between Superconductors Dayem, A. H.; Martin, R. J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.8.246	journal	March 1962
The multiple-image interactions and the mean-barrier approximation in MOM and MVM tunneling junctions Miskovsky, N. M.; Cutler, P. H.; Feuchtwang, T. E. Applied Physics A Solids and Surfaces, Vol. 27, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00616664	journal	March 1982
A high-efficiency dual-frequency rectenna for 2.45- and 5.8-GHz wireless power transmission IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 50, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2002.800430	journal	July 2002
Mimicking Surface Plasmons with Structured Surfaces Pendry, J. B.; Martín-Moreno, L.; Garcia-Vidal, F. J. Science, Vol. 305, Issue 5685, p. 847-848 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1098999	journal	August 2004
Design, Optimization and Fabrication of a 28.3 THz Nano-Rectenna for Infrared Detection and Rectification Gadalla, M. N.; Abdel-Rahman, M.; Shamim, Atif Scientific Reports, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep04270	journal	March 2014
Optical rectification and field enhancement in a plasmonic nanogap Ward, Daniel R.; Hüser, Falco; Pauly, Fabian Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 5, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.176	journal	September 2010
Thermodynamic energy conversion efficiencies Landsberg, P. T.; Tonge, G. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 51, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.328187	journal	July 1980
Density matrix approach to photon-assisted tunneling in the transfer Hamiltonian formalism Davids, Paul S.; Shank, Joshua arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1710.03171	text	January 2017
Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) Metamaterials and Electromagnetic Sources: Tailoring the Radiation Phase Pattern Alu, Andrea; Silveirinha, Mario; Salandrino, Alessandro arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0609220	text	January 2006

Cited By (1)

Electrical power generation from moderate-temperature radiative thermal sources Davids, Paul S.; Kirsch, Jared; Starbuck, Andrew Science, Vol. 367, Issue 6484 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba2089	journal	February 2020

Figures / Tables (7)

Similar Records

High-Efficiency Harmonically Terminated Diode and Transistor Rectifiers

Journal Article · Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2012 · IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques · OSTI ID:1464206

Roberg, M; Reveyrand, T; Ramos, I; +2 more

Conduction and rectification in NbO{sub x}- and NiO-based metal-insulator-metal diodes

Journal Article · Thu Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films · OSTI ID:1464206

Giardini, Stephen; Carlson, Joel; Periasamy, Prakash; +11 more

Conduction and rectification in NbO _x - and NiO-based metal-insulator-metal diodes

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films · OSTI ID:1464206

Osgood, Richard M.; Giardini, Stephen; Carlson, Joel; +12 more

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS