A team of researchers from the University of Arkansas has successfully developed a circuit that can capture the thermal motion of graphene and convert it into electrical current. Physicists say that to provide clean, unlimited, low-voltage power to small devices and sensors, a graphene-based energy-crop circuit can be incorporated into the chip.
The breakthrough is the result of research conducted three years ago at the University of Arkansas that found freestanding graphene, a layer of carbon atoms, ripples and buckles, potentially capable of harvesting energy. The idea was controversial because it refuted the well-known statements of physicist Richard Feynman about the thermal motion of an atom, known as the Brownian motion, cannot work.
However, university researchers discovered the thermal motion of graphene at room temperature and produced an alternating current in the circuit. This achievement was previously considered impossible. Researchers have also found an increase in the amount of energy delivered to their design. Researchers say they are looking for diode-like, f, switch-like behavior of diodes that extend the distributed power rather than reducing it as previously believed.
The scientists on the project had to use a relatively new field of physics to prove that diodes increase the power of a circuit. That emerging field is called stochastic thermodynamics. Researchers say that graphene and circuit are symbiotic. When the thermal atmosphere is working on the load resistor, the graphene and the circuit are at the same temperature, and heat does not flow between the two. It is an important discovery because the difference in temperature between the two contradicts the second law of thermodynamics.
Other discoveries include that the relatively slow motion of graphene induces current at low frequencies in the circuit, which is important from a technical point of view. This is important because electronics operate more efficiently at lower frequencies. The next purpose is to determine if the DC current can be stored in the capacitor for later use. Miniatures are also planned.
