Journal
JOULE
Volume 3, Issue 11, Pages 2679-2686Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2019.08.009
Keywords
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Funding
- U.S. Department of Energy [DE-FG0207ER46426]
- U.S. Department of Energy Photonics at Thermodynamic Limits'' Energy Frontier Research Center [DE-SC0019140]
- Mellon Family Foundation
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A large fraction of the world's population still lacks access to electricity, particularly at night when photovoltaic systems no longer operate. The ability to generate electricity at night could be a fundamentally enabling capability for a wide range of applications, including lighting and low-power sensors. Here, we demonstrate a low-cost strategy to harness the cold of space through radiative cooling to generate electricity with an off-the-shelf thermoelectric generator- Unlike traditional thermoelectric generators, our device couples the cold side of the thermoelectric module to a sky-facing surface that radiates heat to the cold of space and has its warm side heated by the surrounding air, enabling electricity generation at night. We experimentally demonstrate 25 mW/m(2) of power generation and validate a model that accurately captures the device's performance. Further, we show that the device can directly power a light emitting diode, thereby generating light from the darkness of space itself.
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