MIT researchers discover new way of producing electricity

PhysOrg ^ | 3/7/20 | David Chandler

[mountn man]

Yeah, I would say thet if you discover something, it was previously unknown.

[DannyTN]

"one possible application would be in enabling new kinds of ultra-small electronic devices — for example, devices the size of grains of rice, perhaps with sensors"

Don't Eat the RICE!!!! It's a spy bot!!!

/conspiracy mode off

[DannyTN]

"how much energy does it take to make the nanotubes, and what is left after the reaction (are the tubes destroyed, or only the fuel on the outside)?"

I thought it interesting that they compared it by weight to a lithium ion battery. But this sounds like it would either be a one use battery. Or they would have to have a way of cleaning residue and recoating the nanowires before each burst of voltage.

And how much heat is released? Is that grain of rice going to burn a hole through me as it's sensoring?

[The Cajun]

.....With a temperature of 3,000 kelvins.....(approx. 5000 deg. F)

Don't know if the nanotubes are totally destroyed, but I bet they are hurting something awful ;^)

[BipolarBob]

This sounds like a good science project. LOOK ITS BOB ☻/ This is bob, copy paste him on /▌ every comment you see so he can / \ take over FR.

[FreePaul]

...it’s hard to predict exactly what the practical applications will be. But he suggests that one possible application...sensors or treatment devices that could be injected into the body.

With temperatures of 3000K wouldn't these little things require considerable insulation to be used in the human body?

[FreePaul]

Maybe they discovered something that is more unique than anything else.

[RebelTex]

“Still waiting for cold fusion”

You should talk to my ex. Every time she blew a fuse at me, the whole house would turn into a deep freeze.

;>D

[gunsequalfreedom]

Cold Fusion

Yes, it is a Ford Fushion under all that snow.

[Kevmo]

Sounds a lot like thermionics

Thermal diode for energy conversion - US Patent 6396191 AbstractPatent Abstract: Solid state thermionic energy converter semiconductor diode implementation and ... US Patent 6396191 - Thermal diode for energy conversion ...
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6396191.html
Hybrid thermionic energy converter and method - US Patent 6906449 ...Inventor: Wilson6323414, Heterostructure thermionic coolers. Issued on: 11/27/2001. Inventor: Shakouri, et al.6396191, Thermal diode for energy conversion ...
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6906449.html

Show more results from http://www.patentstorm.us
[DOC] Project: Carbon Nanotube Thermionic Generators for Aircraft APUsFile Format: Microsoft Word - View as HTML
A thermionic energy converter or “thermal diode” consists of a cathode, vacuum gap, and anode. Heating the cathode causes the electrons to “boil off”, ...
http://ctd.grc.nasa.gov/.../Carbon%20Nanotube%20Thermionic%20Generators%20for%20Aircraft%...

[SunkenCiv]

Like a collection of flotsam propelled along the surface by waves traveling across the ocean, it turns out that a thermal wave -- a moving pulse of heat -- traveling along a microscopic wire can drive electrons along, creating an electrical current. The key ingredient in the recipe is carbon nanotubes...

That will make the first "space elevator" test kinda amusing. Thanks GeronL!

[SunkenCiv]

Combustion waves -- like this pulse of heat hurtling along a wire -- "have been studied mathematically for more than 100 years," Strano says, but he was the first to predict that such waves could be guided by a nanotube or nanowire and that this wave of heat could push an electrical current along that wire... "we were really surprised by the size of the resulting voltage peak" that propagated along the wire. After further development, the system now puts out energy, in proportion to its weight, about 100 times greater than an equivalent weight of lithium-ion battery. The amount of power released, he says, is much greater than that predicted by thermoelectric calculations. While many semiconductor materials can produce an electric potential when heated, through something called the Seebeck effect, that effect is very weak in carbon. "There's something else happening here," he says. “We call it electron entrainment, since part of the current appears to scale with wave velocity." The thermal wave, he explains, appears to be entraining the electrical charge carriers (either electrons or electron holes) just as an ocean wave can pick up and carry a collection of debris along the surface. This important property is responsible for the high power produced by the system, Strano says.

[RebelTex]

LOL

[ShadowAce]

[Still Thinking]

Hmm, it’s a Fushion with a cushion!

[GOPJ]

The amount of power released, he says, is much greater than that predicted by thermoelectric calculations.

Can a perpetual motion machine be far behind?

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Hmm, might be a replacement for a steam turbine eventually. With direct heat to electricity, there would be no need for the middle man of steam.

Eventually, who knows? What we know of it right now is that its advantage is energy density per pound, and its disadvantage is energy efficiency. Nothing in that profile competes effectively with steam turbines in a stationary, or I would think even a shipborne, application. So at present the prospect is for mobile, handheld, possibly laptop applications. Note that the researcher is quoted as referring to sub-handheld application as the first possibility . . .

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 03/07/2010. Thanks again GeronL. A little re-ping to KD. :')

• Metal atoms in carbon nanotubes caught on film [7 December 2009]

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