Thermodynamic limits for simultaneous energy harvesting from the hot sun and cold outer space

• 作者: Wei Li Siddharth Buddhiraju Shanhui Fan
• 来源期刊: 光：科学与应用（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（3）
• 所属期刊栏目: Original Articles
• 页码范围: 686-696
• 页数: 11页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

The sun and outer space are two of the most important fundamental thermodynamic resources for renewable energy harvesting. A significant amount of work has focused on understanding the fundamental limit of energy harvesting from the sun. More recently, there have been several theoretical analyses of the fundamental limit of energyharvesting from outer space. However, far less is understood about the fundamental limits of simultaneous energy harvesting from both the sun and outer space. Here, we consider and introduce various schemes that are capable of simultaneous energy harvesting and elucidate the fundamental thermodynamic limits of these schemes. We show that the theoretical limits can far exceed the previously established limit associated with utilizing only one thermodynamic resource. Our results highlight the significant potential of simultaneous energy harvesting and indicate new fundamental opportunities for improving the efficiency of energy harvesting systems.