Graphene for energy harvesting from the night sky. This project aims to establish the scientific foundations for new devices, based on the photothermoelectric effect in graphene, which generate energy

Description

Graphene for energy harvesting from the night sky. This project aims to establish the scientific foundations for new devices, based on the photothermoelectric effect in graphene, which generate energy from radiative cooling to the dark sky. The project will develop methods to strongly couple thermal radiation to graphene, understand the relevant mechanisms of electron heat flow in graphene, and build and measure the efficiency of graphene thermoradiative generators. The expected outcomes will be the benchmarking of this new technology with prospects for significantly higher efficiency, enabling new applications in space- and Earth-based power generation. The project will benefit Australia through intellectual property and new capacity for research in photovoltaics and quantum materials.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5104 - Condensed Matter Physics. Lead: Prof Michael Fuhrer