Low-density functional freestanding films towards energy conversion devices

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K17448
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Nanomaterials engineering
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Science (2016); Toyota Central R&D Lab., Inc. (2015)
• Principal Investigator: Ikuno Takashi 東京理科大学, 基礎工学部電子応用工学科, 准教授 (60466331)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: ナノカーボン / 熱機関 / 再生可能エネルギー / 低温排熱回収

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Harvesting large amounts of low-temperature wasted heat is an important subject aimed at development of micro power sources, sensors, and actuators for wireless-sensor network devices, although it has been rarely claimed owing to the second law of thermodynamics. Thermoelectric energy harvesters composed of heat engines (HEs), which turn thermal gradients into mechanical energy, and mechanical-to-electric (M-to-E) transducers have recently received attentions because their output voltages are higher than those of the Seebeck devices. In this study, we proposed and realized a novel diaphragm-like HE based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Our HE exhibited a continuous bending-stretching motion on a hot plate even below the temperature of 100°C in an environment at room temperature. In addition, we combined a M-to-E transducer with the HE for electric output. Although the generated power is tiny, we confirmed that a part of thermal energy was converted to electrical energy.

Free Research Field

ナノ電子材料，エネルギー変換素子