Plasmonic-Thermoelectric Nanogenerator

Energy harvesting from a renewable source is a promising alternative for sustainable and clean power generation. Exploring the energy from the whole electromagnetic radiation spectrum as the renewable energy source will significantly expand the current energy harvesting portfolio (e.g. PV, wind and etc.), providing a sustainable and continuous (day and night) energy source for society.
The project vision is to capture and convert the whole electromagnetic radiation spectrum for applications in renewable energy harvesting and photon detection. To achieve these ambitious goals, an unprecedented hybrid system which contains a plasmonic absorber for electromagnetic emission capture, combined with a thin film thermoelectric (TE) module for electricity conversion, will be developed. The success of this project will form the scientific foundation for large-scale grant application towards funding sources (e.g. EPSRC and STFC).
Several intermediate objectives have been identified:
1. Development of a novel plasmonic absorber module as the local heat source. These include a) a broadband absorption module targeting a wide spectrum range for energy harvesting, and b) a wavelength-selective absorption module for photon detecting
2. Development of thin film TE modules with high performance for both energy harvesting and photon detecting applications
3. Prototyping the hybrid system of the plasmonic absorber module and the TE module to demonstrate energy harvesting with high efficiency and photon detecting with high responsivity.