Silicon nanoblades convert waste heat into energy

The collaborative project demonstrated that silicon's ability to harvest energy from heat can be greatly increased while remaining mass-producible.

Dr. Mark Lee, professor and head of the Department of Physics in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, is the corresponding author of a study published in Nature Electronics that describes the results. The findings could greatly influence how circuits are cooled in electronics, as well as provide a method of powering IoT sensors.

"Sensors go everywhere now. They can't be constantly plugged in, so they must consume very little power," Lee said. "Without a reliable light source for photovoltaic energy, you're left needing some kind of battery, one that shouldn't have to be replaced."

One solution is thermoelectric generation which converts a difference in temperature into electrical energy, but the primary hurdles for widespread thermoelectric harvesting have been efficiency and cost.

"Thermoelectric generation has been expensive, both in terms of cost per device and cost per watt of energy generated," Lee said in a statement. "The best materials are fairly exotic - they're either rare or toxic - and they aren't easily made compatible with basic semiconductor technology."