Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Chevron U.s.a. Inc.

Tianxiang Liu

Michael S Strano

Volodymyr B Koman

Anton Lee Cottrill

Sayalee Girish Mahajan

Saleh Ali Elomari

Dan Xie

Tracy Margaret Davis

Christopher Michael Lew

Daichi Kozawa

Pingwei Liu

Michael W Deem

The present disclosure is directed to materials, devices, and methods for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting. Thermal energy can be harvested using thermoelectric resonators that capture and store ambient thermal fluctuations and convert the fluctuations to energy. The resonators can include non-linear heat transfer elements, such as thermal diodes, to enhance their performance. Incorporation of thermal diodes can allow for a dynamic rectification of temperature fluctuations into a single polarity temperature difference across a heat engine for power extraction, as compared to the dual polarity nature of the output voltage of linear thermal resonators, which typically necessitates electrical rectification to be routed to an entity for energy storage. In some embodiments, the thermal diode can be applied to transient energy harvesting to construct thermal diode bridges. Methods for constructing such devices, and using such devices, are also provided.

Materials, devices, and methods for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting using thermal diodes

The present disclosure is directed to materials, devices, and methods for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting. Thermal energy can be harvested using thermoelectric resonators that capture and store ambient thermal fluctuations and convert the fluctuations to energy. The thermal resonators can include heat engines disposed between masses of varying sizes or diodes. The masses or diodes can be made of high and ultra-high effusivity materials to transfer thermal energy through the resonator and optimize power output. The masses or diodes of the resonator can be tuned to the dominant frequency of the temperature waveform to maximize the amount of energy being converted. The resonators can be added to existing structures to supply or generate power, and, in some embodiments, the structures themselves can be a mass of the thermal resonator. Methods for constructing and/or using such devices are also provided, as are methods for formulating ultra-high effusivity materials.

Materials, devices, and methods for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting

An particle can include a first sheet comprising a layer including a first material, wherein the first sheet includes a first outer surface and a first inner surface; and a second sheet comprising a layer including a second material, where the second sheet includes a second outer surface and a second inner surface, wherein the first sheet and the second sheet form a space, the space is encapsulated by the first sheet and the second sheet.

Nearly 2D electronic microparticles

A method is disclosed for synthesizing zeolite SSZ-52 in the presence of an organic structure directing agent having the following structure (1): wherein R, R, Rand Rare independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl groups having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms and n has a value of 0, 1 or 2.

Method for preparing zeolite SSZ-52

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Tianxiang Liu