Science Alert February 27, 2018
Researchers at MIT designed materials that maximize the thermal effusivity by impregnating copper and nickel foams with conformal, chemical-vapor-deposited graphene and octadecane as a phase change material. These materials are ideal for ambient energy harvesting in the form of thermal resonators to generate persistent electrical power from thermal fluctuations over large ranges of frequencies. The harvestable power is proportional to the thermal effusivity of the dominant thermal mass. With 18-degree Fahrenheit temperature difference between night and day, a small sample of material produced 350 millivolts of potential and 1.3 milliwatts of power, which is enough to keep small sensors or communications systems running… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE