QMHP: Exploring the Limits of Energy Scavenging - from Microwave to Nanoscale

提案编号：0801480提案标题：QMHP：探索能量清除的极限-从微波到纳米级epi名称：Trew， Robert J.PI机构：北卡罗莱纳州立大学从波波维奇最近的开创性工作开始，微波电子学社区已经证明，我们可以通过收集环境中的能量来提取少量但有用的电量，环境中无组织的微波能量。这项新技术虽然成熟，但使用的是具有微型特征的天线，以便从微波中提取能量。这个新项目的目标是通过使用纳米级结构从太赫兹辐射频率中提取能量，来发现可以从更高频率的环境辐射中提取多少能量。该项目将从理论建模和分析，到设计、制造和测试系统，旨在从优化的极性半导体的热表面激发中提取尽可能多的能量。利用现有的理论工具，很难预测当这种技术发展到纳米级时会发生什么。例如，众所周知，如何计算室温下化学材料的自由能成分，作为总焓的一部分，但对于一般的电磁辐射源，没有类似的分解方法。此外，量子效应也在纳米尺度上发挥作用。这个项目将从现有的最先进的模型开始，在一定程度上考虑量子效应；然而，对科学的最大好处将是有机会将最有趣的理论预测与高度可复制的经验结果进行比较。更广泛的好处如果这个项目真的能产生一种有用的小型电力的新来源，用于便携式设备，如传感器和小型通信节点，那么变革的好处将是巨大的。在任何情况下，局部固态光谱学和近场显微镜都有望受益，这些技术作为纳米技术的推动者越来越重要。这项研究将与NCSU本科生研究经历的新nsf支持网站合作进行。该项目将招募本科生参与，以获得先进的模拟技术和实验室测量程序的经验。

Proposal Number: 0801408Proposal Title: QMHP: Exploring the Limits of Energy Scavenging - from Microwave to NanoscalePI Name: Trew, Robert J.PI Institution: North Carolina State UniversityStarting from the recent seminal work of Popovic, the microwave electronics community has proven that we can extract small but useful amounts of electricity by harvesting the energy of ambient, disorganized microwave energy in the environment. That new but well-established technology uses antennas with micro-sized features, in order to extract energy from microwaves. The goal of this new project is to discover how much can be extracted from higher frequencies of ambient radiation, by using nano-scaled structures tuned to extract energy from terahertz frequencies of radiation. The project will proceed from theoretical modeling and analysis, to design, fabrication and testing of systems designed to extract as much energy as possible from the thermal surface excitation of an optimized polar semiconductor.Intellectual MeritUsing current theoretical tools, it is difficult to predict what will actually happen as one moves this kind of technology to the nanoscale. For example, it is well known how to calculate the free energy component of chemical materials at room temperatures, as a share of total enthalpy, but a similar decomposition is not available for general sources of electromagnetic radiation. Also, quantum effects come into play at the nanoscale. This project will start from the best available state-of-the-art modeling of what to expect, accounting for quantum effects to some degree; however, the greatest benefit to science will be the opportunity to compare the most interesting theoretical predictions with highly replicable empirical results. Broader BenefitsIf this project should actually result in a useful new source of small-scale electricity for use in portable devices like sensors and small communications nodes, the transformative benefits would be enormous. Benefits are expected in any case to local solid-state spectroscopy and near field microscopy, technologies of growing importance as enablers for nanotechnology. This research will be performed in collaboration with the new NSF-supported site for Research Experiences for Undergraduates at NCSU. Undergraduates will be recruited to work on the project and gain experience in advanced simulation techniques and laboratory measurement procedures.