Huge amounts of energy float around us that we don’t collect. Mostly it doesn’t make sense due to energy density and our broader needs – nor our technological capabilities, and so to align with the economics of reality we burn fossil fuels. However, don’t let your imagination be locked down – John Galt once pulled static electricity from the sky.

SOURCEThe new results suggest that this nanoscopic thin-film technology might be particularly attractive for installing on and harvesting waste heat from high-speed electronics but could have a large scope of applications. Martin’s research team synthesized thin-film versions of materials just 50-100 nanometers thick and then, together with the group of Chris Dames, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Berkeley, fabricated and tested the pyroelectric-device structures based on these films. These structures allow the engineers to simultaneously measure the temperature and electrical currents created, and source heat to test the device’s power generation capabilities – all on a film that’s less than 100 nanometers thick.

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