All-day uninterrupted power generator: Harvesting energy from the sun and cold space
Abstract Harvesting energy from the environment to generate electricity is attracting tremendous interest to enrich the forms of energy utilization, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate the global energy crisis1,2. However, achieving an unlimited and uninterrupted all-day power generation from the ambient energy is still challenging3. Herein, we demonstrate a passive power device to harvest energy from the sun and cold space based on micro-fabricated thermoelectric generator (TEG) integrated with solar absorber (SA) and radiative cooling emitter (RCE) to realize continuous power generation form the ambient. The ultrathin TEG, that with a sensitivity of 10− 4 K achieved output power density of 960 W/m3 while heated to 80°C at room temperature. The solar absorber (SA) performs photothermal conversion to heat the TEG in the daytime4, while the radiative cooling emitter (RCE) radiates the heat to the cold space through the atmospheric window to cool the TEG all the clear day5,6. Our strategy provides a renewable and sustainable thermodynamic resource to build a temperature difference over TEG for all-day uninterrupted power generation for wide application scenarios. This is the first proof-of-principle uninterrupted power generation system independent of time on a small scale, and opportunities exist for environmental energy harvesting and electricity generation beyond traditional technologies.
