Physicists build Circuit that Generates Clean, Limitless Power From Graphene!

[ExomatrixTV]

Physicists build Circuit that Generates Clean, Limitless Power From Graphene!

A team of University of Arkansas physicists has successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene's thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current.

"An energy-harvesting circuit based on graphene (https://phys.org/tags/graphene/) could be incorporated into a chip to provide clean, limitless, low-voltage power for small devices or sensors," said Paul Thibado, professor of physics and lead researcher in the discovery.

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/attachment.php?attachmentid=44672&d=1601932814

The findings, published in the journal Physical Review E, are proof of a theory the physicists developed at the U of A three years ago that freestanding graphene—a single layer of carbon atoms—ripples and buckles in a way that holds promise for energy harvesting.

The idea of harvesting energy from graphene is controversial because it refutes physicist Richard Feynman's well-known assertion that the thermal motion of atoms, known as Brownian motion, cannot do work. Thibado's team found that at room temperature (https://phys.org/tags/room+temperature/) the thermal motion of graphene does in fact induce an alternating current (AC) in a circuit, an achievement thought to be impossible.

KiLTEjm8zLw
In the 1950s, physicist Léon Brillouin published a landmark paper refuting the idea that adding a single diode, a one-way electrical gate, to a circuit is the solution to harvesting energy from Brownian motion. Knowing this, Thibado's group built their circuit with two diodes for converting AC into a direct current (https://phys.org/tags/direct+current/) (DC). With the diodes in opposition allowing the current to flow both ways, they provide separate paths through the circuit, producing a pulsing DC current that performs work on a load resistor.

Additionally, they discovered that their design increased the amount of power delivered. "We also found that the on-off, switch-like behavior of the diodes actually amplifies the power delivered, rather than reducing it, as previously thought," said Thibado. "The rate of change in resistance provided by the diodes adds an extra factor to the power."

The team used a relatively new field of physics to prove the diodes increased the circuit's power. "In proving this power enhancement, we drew from the emergent field of stochastic thermodynamics and extended the nearly century-old, celebrated theory of Nyquist," said coauthor Pradeep Kumar, associate professor of physics and coauthor.

According to Kumar, the graphene and circuit share a symbiotic relationship. Though the thermal environment is performing work on the load resistor, the graphene and circuit are at the same temperature and heat does not flow between the two.

That's an important distinction, said Thibado, because a temperature difference between the graphene and circuit, in a circuit producing power, would contradict the second law of thermodynamics. "This means that the second law of thermodynamics is not violated, nor is there any need to argue that 'Maxwell's Demon' is separating hot and cold electrons," Thibado said.

The team also discovered that the relatively slow motion of graphene induces current in the circuit at low frequencies, which is important from a technological perspective because electronics function more efficiently at lower frequencies.
"People may think that current flowing in a resistor causes it to heat up, but the Brownian current does not. In fact, if no current was flowing, the resistor would cool down," Thibado explained. "What we did was reroute the current in the circuit and transform it into something useful."

The team's next objective is to determine if the DC current can be stored in a capacitor for later use, a goal that requires miniaturizing the circuit and patterning it on a silicon wafer, or chip. If millions of these tiny circuits (https://phys.org/tags/circuits/) could be built on a 1-millimeter by 1-millimeter chip, they could serve as a low-power (https://phys.org/tags/power/) battery replacement.


Source (https://phys.org/news/2020-10-physicists-circuit-limitless-power-graphene.html)

[Ratszinger]

Imagine when they tie it into solar what they'll be able to do with both!

[TargeT]

Imagine when they tie it into solar what they'll be able to do with both!

this thing makes micro-volts... If it could somehow scale (I see no indication currently) it maybe useful... as it is it's so low power it's not currently good for anything impact-full.

[Ernie Nemeth]

Also, it uses Brownian motion to generate power. Nothing at all to do with solar power.

Interesting to note that the vibration of atoms and molecules is a function of temperature and pressure. It has been used before to make microscopic robots move by a ratchet type arrangement that allowed energy translation in only one direction - much like the diode arrangement in this silicon wafer.

[Justplain]

This reminds me of an article that came out around six years ago that stated that MIT (if I recall correctly, could have been Harvard) researchers had developed a battery based on carbon that could hold a charge multiple times of what conventional batteries could, could be recharged many many times and were 5% of the cost of conventional batteries. This type of electrical storage would greatly increase the viability of renewable energy solutions by meaning all energy produced could be efficiently stored at peak outputs for later use.

Haven't heard anything about this invention since. I imagine someone bought the patent and put it on the shelf. In all likelihood the research was paid in full or part by the American taxpayer, whom will likely have to pay through the nose for this technology if and when it comes to market.

Par for this course.

[TargeT]

I imagine someone bought the patent and put it on the shelf.

haha, in your scenario the thing exists and is being witheld (by far the most emotionally damaging way to think of it).

in reality it's just media hyping BS and lying and making it sound sexy AF to non technical people....

it's even worse... it's a lazy lie....

SELF EDUCATION IS THE CURE! (I do this as a 5-20% component of every single day of my life).

[WhiteFeather]

Interesting....Hey What happened to the HHO cells, and Stanley Meyers water car technology.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a74uarqap2E

[Sunny-side-up]

Imagine when they tie it into solar what they'll be able to do with both!

this thing makes micro-volts... If it could somehow scale (I see no indication currently) it maybe useful... as it is it's so low power it's not currently good for anything impact-full.

This is where the the things we do use need to have reduced needs and become mega efficient.
The shape of things to come

[RunningDeer]

Interesting....Hey What happened to the HHO cells, and Stanley Meyers water car technology.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a74uarqap2E

Nice to see you, WhiteFeather. http://paula.avalonlibrary.net/smilies/hug-two.gif

http://paula.avalonlibrary.net/smilies/noidea.gif

What happened to Stanley Allen Meyer? (wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Meyer%27s_water_fuel_cell#Meyer's_death))




Stanley Meyer died suddenly on March 20, 1998, while dining at a restaurant. His brother claimed that during a meeting with two Belgian investors in a restaurant, Meyer suddenly ran outside, saying "They poisoned me".


After an investigation, the Grove City police went with the Franklin County coroner report that ruled that Meyer, who had high blood pressure, died of a cerebral aneurysm. Some of Meyer's supporters believe that he was assassinated to suppress his inventions.

Stanley Meyer’s video playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaf1pplzXOYjyQjsTKjVeya6U5ju4RKwY):


http://paula.avalonlibrary.net/News/Stanley-Meyer.jpg

[Ratszinger]

Imagine when they tie it into solar what they'll be able to do with both!

this thing makes micro-volts... If it could somehow scale (I see no indication currently) it maybe useful... as it is it's so low power it's not currently good for anything impact-full.

Out here in OK where we live, when a tornado came through knocking out power for days the electrical guys in the neighborhood working offered to run my 17K generator through the transformer temporarily offering power and it powered the whole block for two days so they took that little generator for a house and shop and upscaled that why couldn't they do this with microvolts?

[TargeT]

Imagine when they tie it into solar what they'll be able to do with both!

this thing makes micro-volts... If it could somehow scale (I see no indication currently) it maybe useful... as it is it's so low power it's not currently good for anything impact-full.

Out here in OK where we live, when a tornado came through knocking out power for days the electrical guys in the neighborhood working offered to run my 17K generator through the transformer temporarily offering power and it powered the whole block for two days so they took that little generator for a house and shop and upscaled that why couldn't they do this with microvolts?

"little generator" haha a 17k is pretty damn big, I ran my LARGE house off 6k (with AC, fridges, TV everything) and had plenty of extra power to spare (I ran my generator around once a month due to power outtages in the VI; and I ran it about 6 months strait after Hurricane Maria destroyed the island)

The size of this process at a 17,000 watt (your generator size) would be about the size of a neighborhood... it's just not energy dense enough to "matter" this is more of a novelty unless they find something even "newer" this won't go anywhere.

[Justplain]

I imagine someone bought the patent and put it on the shelf.

haha, in your scenario the thing exists and is being witheld (by far the most emotionally damaging way to think of it).

in reality it's just media hyping BS and lying and making it sound sexy AF to non technical people....

it's even worse... it's a lazy lie....

SELF EDUCATION IS THE CURE! (I do this as a 5-20% component of every single day of my life).

Hi Targ,

Regarding the carbon battery article I was referring to, the 'lazy journalism' was by the Harvard gazette, which said:

"The novel battery technology is reported in a paper published in Nature on Jan. 9. Under the OPEN 2012 program, the Harvard team received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy (ARPA-E) to develop the grid-scale battery, and plans to work with the agency to catalyze further technological and market breakthroughs over the next several years.

"The paper describes a metal-free flow battery that relies on the electrochemistry of naturally abundant, inexpensive, small organic (carbon-based) molecules called quinones, which are similar to molecules that store energy in plants and animals."

So this project WAS funded by the taxpayers (ARPA-E).

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/01/renewable-energy-breakthrough/

So, in 2015, the Harvard Gazette reported further about the organic flow battery, that enhancements had been made:

"A team of Harvard scientists and engineers has demonstrated a rechargeable battery that could make storing electricity from intermittently available energy sources, like sun and wind, safe and cost-effective for both residential and commercial use. The new research builds on earlier work by members of the same team that could enable cheaper and more reliable electricity storage at the grid level."

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/09/green-storage-for-green-energy-grows-cleaner/

So, in 2019, the Harvard School of Engineering released an update on the organic flow thru battery:

"New organic flow battery brings decomposing molecules back to life
“Zombie” molecules dramatically increase battery lifetime

By Leah Burrows
May 28, 2019

"After years of making progress on an organic aqueous flow battery, Harvard University researchers ran into a problem: the organic anthraquinone molecules that powered their ground-breaking battery were slowly decomposing over time, reducing the long-term usefulness of the battery.

"Now, the researchers — led by Michael Aziz, the Gene and Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Roy Gordon, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Science — have figured out not only how the molecules decompose, but also how to mitigate and even reverse the decomposition.

"The death-defying molecule, named DHAQ in their paper but dubbed the “zombie quinone” in the lab, is among the cheapest to produce at large scale. The team’s rejuvenation method cuts the capacity fade rate of the battery at least a factor of 40, while enabling the battery to be composed entirely of low-cost chemicals."

https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2019/05/new-organic-flow-battery-brings-decomposing-molecules-back-life


There is ongoing research on this project. The key here is who 'owns' the technology once it is developed. In the above links you'd find that Harvard has filed patents for this redox flow battery. This is all fine and dandy, since you might say that this is the way business is done. However, if we dealt with this development in strictly business terms, the seed money in part came from ARPA-E, a government funding source. So, using simple business practice, this invention should atleast in part be owned by the American people. But the American people won't see a dime in royalties, or in reduced price.

That is one of my main points here. There seems to be enough varied sources and types of technology in battery construction that it appears inevitable that something useful will eventually come to market (see next link), but often the true funders of these projects aren't rewarded.

And that is par for this course.

https://www.pocket-lint.com/gadgets/news/130380-future-batteries-coming-soon-charge-in-seconds-last-months-and-power-over-the-air

[TargeT]

There seems to be enough varied sources and types of technology in battery construction that it appears inevitable that something useful will eventually come to market (see next link), but often the true funders of these projects aren't rewarded.

And that is par for this course.



Yea, but I wouldnt change the system... I'm a fan of the Gov funding research with no strings attached.

BTW,

Tesla has hugely advanced battery tech (as of sept 22 2020) and is continuing todo so...

https://www.torquenews.com/sites/default/files/tesla_battery_day_cell_formation.jpg

the things are happening!

[WhiteFeather]

Interesting....Hey What happened to the HHO cells, and Stanley Meyers water car technology.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a74uarqap2E

Nice to see you, WhiteFeather. http://paula.avalonlibrary.net/smilies/hug-two.gif

http://paula.avalonlibrary.net/smilies/noidea.gif

What happened to Stanley Allen Meyer? (wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Meyer%27s_water_fuel_cell#Meyer's_death))




Stanley Meyer died suddenly on March 20, 1998, while dining at a restaurant. His brother claimed that during a meeting with two Belgian investors in a restaurant, Meyer suddenly ran outside, saying "They poisoned me".


After an investigation, the Grove City police went with the Franklin County coroner report that ruled that Meyer, who had high blood pressure, died of a cerebral aneurysm. Some of Meyer's supporters believe that he was assassinated to suppress his inventions.

Stanley Meyer’s video playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaf1pplzXOYjyQjsTKjVeya6U5ju4RKwY):


http://paula.avalonlibrary.net/News/Stanley-Meyer.jpg


Likewise Paula. Thanks for the elaboration.

[MinImLi]

This is an advancement folks ... another step forward that we should ALL be thankful for, regardless of whether or not it can be immediately utilized for a degree of work one might label as 'noteworthy' of any praise vs. criticism that it doesn't do enough to be worth anything.

Without small and micro-advancements JUST LIKE THESE, none of us would be able looking at the exact same screens we're lookin' at to read these words ... just hold the criticism for the love of God and be thankful for stuff like this ... and countless other stuff that never gets reported :happythumbsup:



Physicists build Circuit that Generates Clean, Limitless Power From Graphene!

A team of University of Arkansas physicists has successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene's thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current.

"An energy-harvesting circuit based on graphene (https://phys.org/tags/graphene/) could be incorporated into a chip to provide clean, limitless, low-voltage power for small devices or sensors," said Paul Thibado, professor of physics and lead researcher in the discovery.

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/attachment.php?attachmentid=44672&d=1601932814

The findings, published in the journal Physical Review E, are proof of a theory the physicists developed at the U of A three years ago that freestanding graphene—a single layer of carbon atoms—ripples and buckles in a way that holds promise for energy harvesting.

The idea of harvesting energy from graphene is controversial because it refutes physicist Richard Feynman's well-known assertion that the thermal motion of atoms, known as Brownian motion, cannot do work. Thibado's team found that at room temperature (https://phys.org/tags/room+temperature/) the thermal motion of graphene does in fact induce an alternating current (AC) in a circuit, an achievement thought to be impossible.

KiLTEjm8zLw
In the 1950s, physicist Léon Brillouin published a landmark paper refuting the idea that adding a single diode, a one-way electrical gate, to a circuit is the solution to harvesting energy from Brownian motion. Knowing this, Thibado's group built their circuit with two diodes for converting AC into a direct current (https://phys.org/tags/direct+current/) (DC). With the diodes in opposition allowing the current to flow both ways, they provide separate paths through the circuit, producing a pulsing DC current that performs work on a load resistor.

Additionally, they discovered that their design increased the amount of power delivered. "We also found that the on-off, switch-like behavior of the diodes actually amplifies the power delivered, rather than reducing it, as previously thought," said Thibado. "The rate of change in resistance provided by the diodes adds an extra factor to the power."

The team used a relatively new field of physics to prove the diodes increased the circuit's power. "In proving this power enhancement, we drew from the emergent field of stochastic thermodynamics and extended the nearly century-old, celebrated theory of Nyquist," said coauthor Pradeep Kumar, associate professor of physics and coauthor.

According to Kumar, the graphene and circuit share a symbiotic relationship. Though the thermal environment is performing work on the load resistor, the graphene and circuit are at the same temperature and heat does not flow between the two.

That's an important distinction, said Thibado, because a temperature difference between the graphene and circuit, in a circuit producing power, would contradict the second law of thermodynamics. "This means that the second law of thermodynamics is not violated, nor is there any need to argue that 'Maxwell's Demon' is separating hot and cold electrons," Thibado said.

The team also discovered that the relatively slow motion of graphene induces current in the circuit at low frequencies, which is important from a technological perspective because electronics function more efficiently at lower frequencies.
"People may think that current flowing in a resistor causes it to heat up, but the Brownian current does not. In fact, if no current was flowing, the resistor would cool down," Thibado explained. "What we did was reroute the current in the circuit and transform it into something useful."

The team's next objective is to determine if the DC current can be stored in a capacitor for later use, a goal that requires miniaturizing the circuit and patterning it on a silicon wafer, or chip. If millions of these tiny circuits (https://phys.org/tags/circuits/) could be built on a 1-millimeter by 1-millimeter chip, they could serve as a low-power (https://phys.org/tags/power/) battery replacement.


Source (https://phys.org/news/2020-10-physicists-circuit-limitless-power-graphene.html)

[Mike Gorman]

Imagine when they tie it into solar what they'll be able to do with both!

this thing makes micro-volts... If it could somehow scale (I see no indication currently) it maybe useful... as it is it's so low power it's not currently good for anything impact-full.

This is where the the things we do use need to have reduced needs and become mega efficient.
The shape of things to come

The thing is, with modern electronics only very small voltages of electrical energy are needed, as Arthur Young describes: the few ounces of physical energy you apply to your accelerator pedal sets in motion hundreds of 'Horsepower', this is the principle underlying well engineered machines, and electrical circuits are types of machines, micro volts can be used for switching mechanisms, and control rigs. consider that an average CPU in your computer only uses a couple of volts, and this gives you access to the collective knowledge and communications networks of the entire globe.