Now solar goes miniature.scientists at US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory ,are working to create flexible plastic sheets containing billions of nanoantenna arrays.These would work as an interface for tapping in heat generated by the sun and also heat generated by working of electronic equipment.These nanoantenna’s also act as a medium for cooling of such devices without using any electricity.Essentially these nanoantenna’s absorb the infra red rays given, and reemit them as energy of harmless wavelengths.Lead researcher,Steven Novack says “ Every process in our industrial world creates waste heat . It’s energy that we just throw away “.Novack further adds that such sheets might power common appliances such as hybrid cars and ipods.
The process is unique , however for this to work efficiently the heat drawn from the appliances must be at a constant temperature which in practice is difficult to achieve.The greater heat is drawn ,more the likelihood of decrease in temperature which in turn may lower the efficiency of the device.
