CN100416862C - Gaseous matter electron-transition chemical energy conversion device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a device and method for obtaining energy. In one aspect, the method of the invention includes employing a chemical reaction in the region to produce vibrationally excited molecules (101), such as high quantum number vibrationally excited gas molecules. When the excited molecules come into contact with the conductor (103), the vibrational energy in the vibrating excited molecules is converted into thermal electrons. The geometry is arranged so that the excited molecules can move, diffuse or drift in the conductor (103) before releasing a useful portion of the vibrational energy. Optionally, the production and conversion methods may be at least partially thermally separated. Short-lived hot electrons are converted to long-lived hot electrons as carriers in semiconductors and potentials where energy is converted into a useful form.

Description

Gaseous matter electron-transition chemical energy conversion device

field of invention

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for the direct conversion of chemical reaction energy into electrical energy, and more particularly, the present invention relates to the generation of vibrationally highly excited reaction products and the direct conversion of the energy of this product into its useful form, such as electricity, on metal surfaces Methods and apparatus for thermal electrons, long-lived carriers in semiconductors, radiation or coherent radiation.

technical background

A fuel cell is a clean and efficient method of electrochemical energy conversion, usually by directly and efficiently converting the chemical reaction energy of reactant gases into electricity. However, the energy per mass or volume exhibited by a fuel cell system is generally at least lower than the mechanical energy. Furthermore, the volume required for a fuel cell employing liquid storable fuel to generate a given amount of battery power is typically significantly greater than the volume of the battery. This means that, regardless of the fuel cell's efficiency, it is not yet possible for the fuel cell in its current form to replace the battery because there is no space for the fuel.

Furthermore, the type of fuel cell with the highest known energy per unit mass, the solid oxide fuel cell, needs to operate at 600-800°C. Operating at this temperature can create feedstock issues. In principle, fuel cells will exhibit the energy density required to operate at battery volumes. However, thermal issues dominate and hinder the achievement of this goal.

Another form of high-performance fuel cells are rotating mechanical devices. However, mechanical motors that generate electricity usually must use coils and magnetic devices to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, so the motors are very bulky and the energy density is less than 2 watts per gram.

Thus, there remains a need for a method and device for converting chemical energy directly and efficiently into electricity, and for a method that does not require high temperatures and materials and that does not require relatively bulky mechanical devices.

Chemical reactions often produce highly vibratory excited species that can be facilitated by catalysts, injection of autocatalysts, or other means. When the excited species is in contact with the metal, most of the excitation energy can be converted into energized electrons in the metal, see Huang, Yuhui; Charles T. Rettner, Daniel J. Auerbach, Alec M. Wodtke, Science, Vol .290, 6 October 2000, pp 111-113, "Vibrational Promotion of Electron Transfer".

According to the experimental results, vibrationally excited anions can absorb electrons and re-emit electrons into the lattice, carrying most of the excitation energy. Similarly, cations can excite electrons and reabsorb them, emitting holes into the crystal lattice, which carry energy. Electrons or holes are hot carriers.

Experimental observations and theoretical studies in surface science in recent years have confirmed that during a simple and brief contact (about 0.1 picoseconds) with a metal surface, even with chemical bonds that can almost effectively break them down (the number of vibrational quanta exceeds the number about 15) Relatively weakly electronegative gas molecules of energy can deposit most of the vibrational energy in the electrons on the metal surface. Research and observations linked to this observation also support the theory that excited, multi-quantum energy is converted into single electrons by vibrating the excited chemical species.

Typically, more than half of the vibrational energy will be directly converted to electrons at the metal surface, with energies greater than about 5 vibrational quanta. As a result, electrons at the metal surface can carry a large amount of useful vibrationally excited molecular energy as hot electrons, also known as hot carriers.

In metals, hot carriers can move in semiconductors. Hot electrons are converted into excitations or potential energy differences in the semiconductor so that they can be converted into other useful forms such as potential energy to drive current in an external circuit, reverse totals of semiconductor excitations, or heat transfer currents to other usable locations son.

Hot electrons can be converted into potential energy in semiconductors. For example, US Patent No. 6,222,116 directly collects such hot electrons without a mechanical device and converts them directly into electricity as vibrationally excited chemical product species form on the device's reactive surface or within a few molecular dimensions. The devices described in this patent generate useful electrical power by making the reaction rate high enough to excite the semiconductor converter to maintain a useful forward bias.

This high reaction rate is enhanced by removal of spent reaction products by desorption from the hot electron collecting surface. De-energized molecular desorption leaves vacancies for more reactions. Migration of these deenergized molecules away from the contact surface can further initiate the reaction of the oxidant with the fuel.

Therefore, there is a need for a method to generate vibrationally highly excited species directly from chemical reactions, and to allow the electrical energy conversion of the excited species to occur at positions of different thermal sensitivity and to be separated by the generation of the excited species. Furthermore, there is also a need for the reaction to occur within the volume rather than just on the surface, increasing the rate of the reaction compared to when it occurs on the surface.

Contents of the invention

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method of using chemical reactants to generate vibrationally excited gas molecules in a reaction volume or region, harvesting substantial amounts of energy, for example as hot electrons on a conducting surface, and transferring energy as hot electrons into useful forms of energy.

The method involves the use of chemical reactions to produce vibrationally excited molecules, such as high quantum number vibrationally excited gas molecules. When the excited molecules contact the conductor, the vibrational energy in the vibrating excited molecules is converted into hot electrons. Provides a geometry such as a gas reaction region with a mean free path dimension of several molecular collisions and partially bounces off a conducting surface so that excited molecules can pass, diffuse or drift in the conductor before emitting a useful portion of the vibrational energy. Optionally, the production and conversion processes can be at least partially thermally separated. Short-lived hot electrons are converted in semiconductors into longer-lived entities such as carriers and potential energy, thereby converting energy into useful forms.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for generating energy comprising a reaction zone in which reactants such as fuel and oxidant undergo a chemical reaction which produces highly vibratory excited molecules. Allow waste generated during the reaction to exit the system. The reaction zone may be close enough to the collection surface that the excited product does not emit a significant amount of its energy before reaching the collection surface. The collection surface may comprise a surface, such as a conductor, near or on which the excited product converts energy into hot electrons or charge carriers (electrons or holes). The conversion region may be in contact with a collection surface where hot electrons or carriers are converted to a useful form, such as potential energy supported in the semiconductor by the dissociated carriers. The conversion zone can be isolated at least partially, at least thermally, from the reaction zone.

In another aspect, the method may include switching reaction product excitations, such as multi-quantum energy changes of dipolar active states of vibrational states, which is a type of excitation of excited chemical products.

Other features and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.

Description of drawings

Embodiments of the invention are described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the device, wherein a separate reaction zone produces energized molecules, and a collection zone collects energy from the energized molecules;

Figure 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the energy converter portion of the device, using a p-n junction to select a useful potential from the energy of the energized molecules;

Figure 3 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the energy converter portion of the device, using Schottky junctions to select a useful potential from the energy of the energized molecules;

Figure 4 shows a schematic cross-sectional view, in which, the reaction area generates energetic molecules, the collection area collects energy from the energetic molecules, and uses Schottky junctions to generate electricity;

Figure 5 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a device for storing excitations generated by excited molecules;

Figure 6 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a device that converts excitation generated by excited molecules into population inversion;

Figure 7 has a schematic cross-sectional view of a device with separate fuel and oxidant channels, separate reaction and collection zones and thermal isolation; and

Figure 8 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the device illustrating the thermal barrier and the separated reaction and collection zones.

Detailed ways

In one aspect, the methods and devices of the present invention enable enhanced peak power and energy conversion rates and further enhance desorption of waste and pollution products from conductive surfaces. The method involves selecting a catalyst that has a relatively low affinity for waste. Such catalysts include platinum, palladium, and related catalysts exhibit this property for the combustion of hydrogen with alcohols.

In another aspect, the method includes passing fuel and oxidant into the reaction zone and passing waste products out of the reaction zone. Waste products can be removed and diffused. The method of removing and diffusing the waste product includes flowing the reactant gas over the reaction surface and allowing the waste product to exit the surface into the gas stream. On the other hand, the apparatus of the present invention can be designed to generate simple one-shot pulse power, in which case waste products need not leave the reaction zone.

The method of the present invention may involve the use of excited molecules that move through the gaseous reaction volume to the conducting surface. When the excited molecules interact with the conducting surface, most of the chemical vibrational energy is delivered to the conducting surface in the form of energized, ballistic electrons. The resulting conductive plane is very thin, allowing ballistic electrons to move and diffuse directly into the semiconductor substrate. Semiconductors convert electrons into a storable useful form with a longer lifetime (eg, picoseconds or more) than that of ballistic electrons (eg, 0.01 picoseconds). Typically, semiconductors are formed as diodes, and a useful form of energy is electricity generated as a forward bias in the diode.

The conductive surface may include a catalyst and/or a catalyst metal such that the reaction on the catalyst continuously removes adsorbates and provides clean metal with which the vibrationally excited gaseous species can interact. Additives supplied with the fuel and/or oxidizer may supplement the catalyst. Oxidation reactions are known to be effective in removing adsorbed unreacted species. Almost all fuel-air reactions are oxygen-enriched, tending to support or allow to support this oxidation reaction for surface self-cleaning.

Even when a monolayer of reactive adsorbates resides on the conducting surface, the conducting surface can still be considered to conduct. Such adsorbates include oxygen and fuel molecules. Often, a partial monolayer of oxide can form on the catalyst conducting surface.

In one aspect, the device of the present invention can employ fuel and oxidizer to generate excited molecules in the vicinity of the conducting surface. Furthermore, highly vibrationally excited species can also be generated in the vicinity of the conducting surfaces by the reaction of fuels, such as methanol, hydrogen or partially oxidized and complexed hydrocarbons, with oxidizing agents such as air. Fuels from any reducing source or electron donor can be chosen, including but not limited to: hydrogen, hydrocarbons, complex hydrocarbons, alcohols such as methanol, ethanol and propanol, carbohydrates, partially oxygenated hydrocarbons, diesel fuel, kerosene, organic Vaporization products of substances, products of fuel conversion furnaces such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and flammable gases including ammonia. Oxidizing agents may include any of the electron acceptors, oxygen, air, hydrogen peroxide and halogens. On the other hand, those reactants whether or not they are considered fuels and oxidants can also be used. Therefore, any reaction that produces a vibrationally excited species that can move to a collection area can be used as an energy source.

Other exemplary reactants include combinations of alkali metals and water, while waste products would include alkali oxides and hydrogen. Other examples of reactants include chemical reactants where the fuel and oxidant are the same unstable molecule. Examples of such chemical reactants include single component propellants such as MMH, monomethylhydrazine.

In one aspect, the vibrationally excited species can be produced by any known method. Vibrationally excited species may include partially reacted chemical species, such as reaction intermediates comprising hydroxyl groups OH, CO and HCO. These intermediates may contain other non-reactive species, such as waste, and air molecules such as nitrogen or oxygen. These intermediates gain vibrational energy from the reactants and their by-products. Resonance transfer is just one of the ways in which intermediates can be excited.

To form vibrationally excited species by the Eley-Rideal method, chemically reactive free radicals such as atomic hydrogen and oxygen can be allowed to impinge on oxygen or fuel adsorbed on a catalyst or conductor surface. Reactants can also be formed on metal surfaces and reacted, for example, via the Langmuir Hinshelwood method.

On the one hand, excited molecules can be produced by reacting fuel with air with the aid of catalysts and stimulants, and by employing reaction geometries that form vibrating excited gas molecules at any position where they can readily Move and diffuse to the conducting surface before emitting a large number of excitations.

During operation, known stimulation devices such as catalysts, reaction stimulator methods and additives can be used to generate vibrationally excited species after reactants enter the reaction zone. Stimulator methods include the use of one or more catalysts, catalysts on reactive surfaces, electrical discharges, coasting discharges, optical and photolytic methods, optical devices and injected catalyst, catalytic or autocatalytic materials. Stimulation devices may generate free radicals as stimulants, for example, using electrical or optical energy.

Since the most stable chemical reactions are activated (with a potential energy barrier keeping the reactants open), the stimulation device can provide activation energy using electrical means. Devices are provided that can recover a portion of this energy.

The fuel and oxidant mixture produces gaseous products in a gaseous chemical reaction whose initial state is that the energy is substantially concentrated in a vibrational mode. The vibrational modes of the gas typically have lifetimes of 10's to 10,000's of aerodynamic collisions (for off-resonance interactions), and for typical hydrocarbon-air reaction products the pre-equilibrium mean free path is 50-200 in the gas on the order of nanometers. This means that reaction channels utilizing this mean free path will have dimensions as large as at least 10's to 100's mean free path (given by the square root of (3 x vibration lifetime/time between collisions)) , and thus will have dimensions on the order of at most 20,000 nanometers (.02 mm, 0.8 thousandths of an inch). Such channels with a mean free path dimension of 1 or greater are practically manufacturable.

Even when the vibrational mode lifetimes are as low as one-tenth of the mean free path, their metal wall surface features or channels are on the order of 1/2 micron in size. These dimensions are characterized by ease of construction. Thus, these channels or surface features can be configured to allow gas molecules to act before the equilibrium degenerates energy. Thus, vibrating molecules can be fabricated to collide with metal walls before they reach equilibrium with other modes such as rotation and transfer, and at distances removed from the energy harvesting and conversion surfaces.

The provided methods include employing volumes or regions for carrying out chemical reactions. The use of such volumes or areas allows for higher reaction rates and corresponding output powers than when using surfaces. More reactions can take place in a volume or area than on a surface. The volumetric reaction rate of formation is generally higher than that associated with the catalyst turnover number. Since the response can be stimulated in the bulk region while energy harvesting can be achieved in the surface region, this method maintains a high output power compared to the surface reaction approach. In general, surface to volume ratios of 1/2 micron are high compared to the case of macroscopic reaction volumes. Therefore, using volumes can lead to an increase in energy values compared to using only surface reactions that rely on surface catalysis.

The surface is a feature when separating the high reaction rate, higher temperature bulk region from the energy conversion region, allowing for fully electrical systems with power per mass and performance per volume approaching the aerodynamic limits of 10-500 watts/cc , such as those in rocket engines and jet engines. In particular, the conversion of chemical energy to electrical energy using the method and apparatus of the present invention does not require a mechanical generator (generator), which requires a jet engine and turbine system, which adds considerable weight to the system.

In another aspect, the provided method includes an at least partially thermally separated or isolated reaction zone that generates heat, and an energy conversion zone that operates more efficiently at lower temperatures. Waste heat can also be conducted directly from the reaction zone and convected to the exhaust.

This isolation allows the energy converter to be kept below the temperature of the reaction zone. The transfer of hot electrons in a semiconductor connected to a conducting surface becomes exponentially more efficient as a function of decreasing temperature.

This thermal isolation also allows the reaction volume to be kept at a higher temperature than the energy conversion zone. The rate of a chemical reaction typically accelerates exponentially as a function of temperature. This higher reaction rate allows reactants to be supplied at a rate consistent with being able to pump the reactants into the reaction zone.

On the other hand, different parts of the reaction zone can be operated at elevated temperatures, for example at 600°C, to stimulate the catalytic reaction and accelerate or maintain the reaction rate.

The provided methods and apparatus can employ geometries that generate highly vibratory excited species near conducting surfaces. "Near" here refers to a distance several times lower than the gas diffusion distance for highly vibratory excited gaseous species.

The term "in close proximity to a conducting surface" refers to a situation where charges ballistically travel through space, and can also refer to a situation where the electric and magnetic fields associated with a chemical species fade away and do not propagate a waveform, usually of the same size in both cases. Below 1000nm.

The diffusion distance is related to the characteristic distance through which the vibrations are excited to move before a substantial amount of energy is emitted, referred to herein as the vibration diffusion length. The vibrational diffusion length is approximately the 1-σ distance through which the three-dimensional bell-curve probability distribution of matter will move. This diffusion model states that the vibration diffusion length is the product of the collision mean free path and the square root of: 3 times the ratio of the vibration lifetime to the time between collisions. The diffusion length of S.T.P. air is usually well below 20 microns and often exceeds several hundred nanometers.

On the other hand, the method of the present invention converts short-lived ballistic charge carriers, such as thermal electrons, which typically have a lifetime of 0.010 picoseconds, into long-lived carriers in semiconductors, whose lifetimes typically exceed a few picoseconds.

On the other hand, energy converters such as semiconductors or quantum wells are directly in contact with the substrate, converting short-lived substrate hot carriers into long-lived carriers or excited in the semiconductor or quantum well.

In another aspect, the method of the present invention can inject or convert charge carriers formed by surface interaction with excited molecules into a semiconductor diode to generate excess excited carriers in the diode. This excess of excited carriers can also create a potential across the diode.

In another aspect, devices provided by the present invention may include p-n junction diodes. Hot electrons generated in the conduction plane pass through the surface and intermediate material into the p-type semiconductor substrate. The Fermi level of the conductor is in ohmic or near-ohmic contact with the valence band (lower band) of the semiconductor. Therefore, hot electrons with energy higher than the band gap will also have energy higher than the conduction band (upper band) and become minority carriers in the conduction band. The conduction band electrons then migrate to the p-n junction and are attracted there by the internal potential, thereby applying a forward bias to the diode to generate electricity. The polarity and energy bandgap of a semiconductor can be deliberately chosen such that when hot carriers are in the semiconductor, the hot carriers become minority carriers.

For example, in p-n junctions, long-lived minority carriers can be used and converted into other useful forms. For example, charge carriers can be converted into electricity. Carriers may be allowed to recombine into radiant energy or coherent beams of radiant energy. In turn, the carriers can diffuse to other locations in the device and provide excited carriers for further surface reactions. Carriers can be used to induce mechanical effects in nanoscale mechanical systems, and/or in semiconductors to provide carriers provided by power sources. Thus, chemical energy can be converted into any other useful form.

Thus, in one aspect, the method of the present invention includes forming a p-n junction diode. Such diodes may be diodes with one or both heavily doped or degenerately doped polarities. The method of the present invention may include forming a doping gradient, which may be wider or narrower than the junction region. Those skilled in the art know that efficiency can be increased by applying high peak power to p-n junctions using low energy bandgap semiconductors using pulsed chemical reactions, allowing the use of small bandgap values on the order of 0.05-0.1 eV.

It will be appreciated that prior art descriptions of constructing p-n junction diodes include a number of different approaches. These methods include various regions and combinations of metals, semiconductors, oxides, and diode insulator outer layers. Certain regions function to form ohmic or near-ohmic contacts to the diode. Other functions include lattice matching. Diodes can be formed with various schemes of doping combinations. All these variations may be functionally the same p-n junction diode.

The methods and devices of the present invention may involve the use of semiconductor compounds whose energy bandgaps can be fabricated by selection of alloy compositions. The fabrication may be applied near or at the conducting surface and the semiconductor transducer, for example, to generate a potential to sweep carriers from the conducting surface into the semiconductor. These semiconductors include InGaAsSb group semiconductors, where the energy bandgap ranges from about 0.1eV to over 1.5eV, depending on the ratio of In to Ga and the ratio of As to Sb.

The methods and apparatus of the present invention may also include the use of indirect bandgap semiconductors, such as silicon and germanium and their alloys. Such materials typically exhibit longer carrier lifetimes than direct bandgap semiconductors. This will increase the efficiency of the p-n junction, the efficiency of the generator scheme and the efficiency of the storage carrier scheme.

The methods and apparatus of the present invention may also include operating the diode with a bias voltage to enhance resonant tunneling. One way is to operate the diode with a bias when electron transfer dominates, so that the conduction band of the semiconductor matches the energy level of the adsorbate on the conduction surface. The matching of the valence bands is adapted when hole transfer is dominant. Direct bandgap semiconductors such as those from the InGaAsSb family may also be used. Direct bandgap semiconductors allow configurations that can harvest energy by radiation and by stimulated emission of radiation.

In one aspect, the conductive surface can be formed on the metal contacts of the Schottky diode. Hot electrons will then move through the metal. Hot electrons with sufficient energy can cross the Schottky barrier and enter the n-type semiconductor of the diode. After the hot electrons collide with the lattice in the semiconductor to release energy, the hot electrons are captured on the side of the semiconductor, become majority carriers, apply forward bias to the diode, and generate electricity. Useful power generation occurs when a sufficient proportion of charge carriers enter the diode. This energy flux corresponds to a surface power density of greater than about 1 Watt/cm ² .

Thus, methods and apparatus provided by the present invention may include forming Schottky junction diodes. In one aspect, these junctions can have a barrier potential high enough to allow useful forward bias, with the barrier typically exceeding 0.05 volts. The energy bandgap of the Schottky junction can be any useful value, including more than 5 volts, which is generally greater than the energy of hot electrons. Varying the semiconductor's bandgap (via compositional gradient) and doping level allows reducing the thickness of the barrier and, also, changing the relative Fermi level of the distance from the metal side of the diode.

The Schottky diodes can include metal, pinned-level, low doped semiconductors, highly doped semiconductors, and can be fabricated to exhibit the desired barrier potential at metal low doped junctions and the desired barrier at the low-doped high-doped junction. The thin barrier allows electron tunneling, which in turn allows near-ohmic junctions to form when the doping approaches degenerate doping.

Forming a Schottky diode with a variable bandgap and variable doping provides a barrier potential on the semiconductor side without interfering with blocking or other properties on the metal contact side. A variable energy bandgap can be achieved by changing the composition of the semiconductor alloy as a function of distance from the metal surface. This approach allows diodes to be constructed with desired and fabricated barrier and Fermi level properties. Operating a low barrier device with high peak power increases its efficiency, which is well known to those skilled in the art, allowing the low Schottky barrier to be on the order of 0.05 to 0.1 eV.

In one aspect, the oxide layer can be chosen to have a thickness of 0.1 to 20 nanometers thick to form the Schottky barrier and allow better control of the barrier. Varying the thickness of the oxide can control barrier tunneling through the oxide, thus changing the desired properties of the contact. The oxide can be placed anywhere between the excited product and the semiconductor.

Similarly, energized charge carriers can be transferred or injected into semiconductors or into quantum well systems. The system can in turn either convert the carriers into electricity, or emit radiation or can transfer the carriers to other sites where they are converted into useful forms or used in chemical processes.

On the other hand, the formed electrical energy can be efficiently collected and converted into the number of inverted particles excited in the semiconductor or quantum potential well, and the excitation can be converted into other useful energy forms.

On the other hand, the method and apparatus of the present invention create conditions on the conducting surface where the excited molecules interact, the surface strongly favoring the generation of hot carriers or excitations, rather than the excited substrate vibrations, also Call it a phonon. This favorable condition is created by fabricating the quantum state of the Fermi surface, using quantum wells to match the excited molecular state, for example, by using atomic metal monolayers of one to tens of metals to form the conducting surface.

Surface materials such as metals such as metals such as the noble metals gold and silver may be selected that do not acquire adsorbates and are therefore useful for enabling electron transfer. In terms of reaction surface geometry, one can choose to adopt geometric configurations that facilitate excitation and enhance the concentration at the reaction site, such as molecular or atomic surface steps (steps) and edges. Furthermore, the material of the conducting surface can be chosen to have phonon bands whose energies are much lower than the multiquantum vibrational relaxation. Conductive surfaces made of heavy atoms such as palladium or platinum can exhibit this energy band. Almost all crystalline materials have the desired phonon band frequencies.

Reactive surface geometries may include, for example, steps and/or edge locations that may enhance reaction or may include a monolayer surface that may inhibit reaction. In one aspect, a material can be selected that has a Debye frequency to a frequency that can be derived from the desired excitation.

The energized release of reaction products generated near the conducting surface may also involve resonant tunneling of their energy into the substrate levels. These energies include very broad bands of available particle-free excited states of electrons in the conduction band of metals or semiconductors. These energy levels may include analogous bands to the hole state when transferred to a hole due to excitation of an energized product.

The emission of electrons or hot carriers by the interaction of the excited molecules with the conducting surface can be performed using known inverse methods such as desorption by electron transitions (DIET) or desorption by multiple electron transitions (DIMET).

On the one hand, the conducting plane is formed thin enough that the excited carriers generated in this way will transfer their energy to the energy converter substrate with only a small energy loss. The thickness of the conductive surface can range from 1 to thousands of monolayer materials, and its thickness is an engineering parameter depending on electron energy, lattice temperature and materials, and can be constructed according to the description of the prior art.

On the one hand, the conductive plane can be formed so thin that the hot carriers (electrons or holes) pass through the energy converter, ie the semiconductor, before releasing much energy. The dimensions associated with this ballistic transport are on the order of small multiples of the hot carrier energy diffusion length in the conductor or substrate. By "small multiples" is meant that the thickness is thin enough that hot carriers or excitations do not release so much energy that the remaining energy is impractically low. Typically, energy decreases exponentially with the square of the feature size "energy spread length". A distance of "3" energy diffusion length means that less than 5% of the carriers have about the same energy as they started.

At room temperature, the energy diffusion length dimension is typically 10 to about 1000 conductive surface metal monolayers in noble metal groups such as gold and silver, which is equivalent to about 3 to 300 nanometers. At room temperature, the energy diffusion length may have an excess of 115 nanometers in gold for electrons with energies below 1 eV, and it has a calculated excess of approximately 150 nanometers for electrons at 1 eV in silver.

The dimensions of the material between the reactants and the semiconductor substrate through the conductor surface may be chosen to be below the skin depth associated with the radiative transfer of energy. This particular solution employs "evanescent waves," where energy is transferred by an electromagnetic field. In this embodiment, instead of electron emission and re-adsorption, the internal energy of the energized reaction products is resonantly transferred to the carriers of the semiconductor or quantum well through intermediate materials such as conducting planes and underlying substrates. This type of transfer can be resonance transfer.

Energy converters capture charge carriers or electromagnetic energy emitted by energized products at or near a conducting surface and convert them into a useful form. On the one hand, semiconductor diode junctions such as p-n junctions or Schottky junctions are used as energy converters. Alternatively, other known energy converters may be used. Such known energy converters may include any known device designed to capture charge carriers or electromagnetic energy emitted by energized products at or near a reaction surface, such as those used in photovoltaic energy converters, metal-insulator-metal devices, metal-oxide-metal devices, quantum wells, and semiconductor devices. See for example Tiusan, C. et al., Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 79, No. 25, Dec. 17, 2001, "Quantum coherent transport versus diode-like effect in semiconductor-free metal-insulator structures effect insemiconductor-free metal-insulator structure), see, for example, Elena A. Guliants et al., Applied Physics Letters, February 25, 2002, Volume 80, Issue 8, pages 1474-1476, "0.5-micron thickness with rectification rate 1E6 Polycrystalline silicon Schottky diode" ("A 0.5-μm-thick polycrystalline silicon Schottky diode with rectification ratio of 1 E6.").

As mentioned earlier, chemical reactions taking place within the volume generate internal energy that can be transferred to surfaces or energy converters. A useful portion of chemical energy is converted into some other useful form. In one aspect, chemical reactants are used to efficiently generate energy molecules at useful ratios. Examples of useful forms include hot electrons, hot holes, electromagnetic radiation, energized phonon modes, energized chemical forms, and energized piezoelectrics.

Figure 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a device in which a reaction zone generates energized molecules and a separate collection zone collects energy from the energized molecules. Reaction zone 116 reacts fuel 112 with oxidant 113 to produce energized molecules 101 . The energized molecule 101 diffuses through the reaction zone 115 and moves to the collection zone 114, which includes the conversion element, where the energized molecule contacts the optional catalyst 102 and the conductor 103 of the collection zone 114, where the energy is transferred. convert. The converter element may include optional catalyst 102 , conductor 103 , interface conductor 110 , interface semiconductor 111 , p-type semiconductor 104 , semiconductor junction 105 and n-type semiconductor 106 , negative electrode 107 and positive electrode 108 .

Reaction zones 115 and 116 , including their associated elements, such as stimulators 117 , 118 and 119 , are used to generate energizing molecules 101 , and collection zones 114 , including their associated transducer elements, collect energy from energizing molecules 101 . Reaction zones 115, 116 and stimulators 117, 118, 119 react fuel 112 with oxidizer 113 to produce energized molecules 101 that rapidly diffuse to and communicate with the optional catalyst 102 and conductor 103 adjacent collection zone 114. Mixed conducting surface contact, the catalyst is typically a conductor. Energy conversion from chemical species to hot electrons occurs on optional catalyst 102 , on conductor 103 and/or in semiconductor structures 104 , 105 , 106 . Another energy conversion of hot electrons also occurs from conductor 103 to interface conductor 110 and interface semiconductor 111 and into semiconductor diodes, such as p-type semiconductor 104, junction 105 and n-type semiconductor 106, making contact with them. Another type of energy conversion, eg radiation, near field, evanescent wave radiation, can occur between the excited state chemical product 101 and the semiconductor diode. The stimulators 117, 118, 119 in the response zone 116 can consume electricity during the response to the stimulus.

In one aspect, the catalysts 102, 118 can be formed in any of a number of different configurations, each configuration having specific properties. Catalysts can be formed in any manner, including but not limited to: bulk, monolayer, clusters, ridges, step edges, quantum dots, quantum wells, and quantum fields. Adoption of edge and ridge configurations facilitates active sites for adsorption and reaction. The use of a monolayer configuration can exhibit the advantage of making and inducing resonances and peaks in the density of electronic states near the Fermi surface, enhancing energy conversion at these energies. Clusters enhance ballistic electron lifetime and decouple surface phonon states, increasing efficiency.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the collection regions may be diodes 104 , 105 and 106 . Energized molecules 101 rapidly diffuse through the gas in diffusion zone 115 to collection zone 114 where they are converted into a useful form, such as electricity. The de-energized molecules 109 diffuse out from the collection area, which may also be referred to as exhaust.

On the other hand, the reaction regions 116, 115 may be located in regions separated by the collection region 114, but on the same structure, eg on the same substrate, said collection region 114 comprising a mixed conduction plane. The planes shown may represent conventional substrates for this embodiment. In this configuration, the reaction zone 115, 116 containing the catalyst and/or reaction stimulators 117, 118, 119 may be located at one part of the substrate, while the collection zone 114 comprising the converter element is on another part. Separated regions will also be described with reference to FIG. 7 .

The reaction zones 115 , 116 may be designed such that a desired portion of the energized molecules produced in the zone diffuse, migrate or be transported to the collection zone 114 . Those skilled in the art will understand that even if most of the desired parts are close to the same, the expected parts will be the result of engineering design. For example, such a design may select a relatively small reaction zone within or partially surrounded by a relatively large collection zone.

On the other hand, reaction zones 115, 116 may comprise different types of reaction zones, each processing fuel 112 and oxidant 113 differently, ultimately producing energized molecules in collection zone 114, and exhaust gases leaving the zone. Alternatively, volatile or gaseous fuel and oxidant reactants may be used to generate energized molecules in the reaction zones 115, 116.

The distance between the reaction zone 116 and the collection zone 114 is designed to be short enough to substantially maintain the vibrational excitation of the energized molecules. Energized molecules travel between the two regions by gas diffusion. The interaction with other gas molecules will eventually snatch the excitation energy and generate heat. The distance is generally designed to be less than 4 times the vibration energy diffusion length. The diffusion length is generally known to be longer than the collision equilibrium free path and multiplied by 3 to 100 (vibration diffusion length = collision equilibrium free path x (square root of 3 times the vibration life in units of time between collisions), the vibration life is usually 10 to 10,000) . For example, for air molecules, the mean free path for collisions is about 100 nanometers. This means that the distance between the reaction zone and the collection zone can be 3-100 times longer than 100 nm. Accordingly, the reaction zone is formed such that the distance from the energized molecule to the collection zone is less than about 4 times the diffusion length of the molecular vibrational energy mode.

In another aspect, the method of the present invention includes forming a conductive plane in contact with the semiconductor region. The term "contact" includes configurations where another conducting surface, catalyst, material, oxidizing agent or metal is placed between the enabling molecule and the conducting surface or base semiconductor and serves as a pathway for energy conversion. This includes placing conductive surfaces close to the reaction zone. In one embodiment, "close to" means within a distance through which electronic excitations can pass such that more than 5% of the excitations retain more than 15% of their energy, or where resonant tunneling can transport energy fast enough so that no more than 85 % of energy lost. The method of the invention also includes disposing a conductive surface on, adjacent to or below the reaction surface. This includes things like deep V-channels and mesa structures.

Alternatively, paths of material may be formed for ballistic charge carrier transport in the conductive surface. Such paths are limited to a length less than about 4 times the charge carrier energy diffusion length. On the other hand, part of the path may be formed of a material including any of metal, semiconductor, or insulator, and the energy diffusion length of the material exceeds 1 atomic layer.

The method of the present invention provides a short path from the surface facing the reactants to the semiconductor. The length of this path is preferably less than 4 times the energy diffusion length of the hot electrons or hot holes produced by the energized products. As an option, the path can also be made of catalyst metal. When the path is made of good conductor metals such as copper, aluminum, silver and gold, suitable energy diffusion length thicknesses can be substantially greater than in catalysts such as platinum, palladium, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium, vanadium oxide, titania, Aluminum oxide, ruthenium oxide, oxides and other compounds. The thickness of the material forming the electrodes may generally be 0.3 to 300 nanometers, corresponding to about 1 to 1000 monolayers. The thickness of the material forming the catalyst may generally range from 0.3 to 50 nanometers.

In one aspect, the devices of the present invention may include a semiconductor diode independent substrate comprising an optional catalyst 102, conductor 103 and interface conductor 110 comprising oxides, insulators and mixed catalysts including but not limited to: platinum , palladium, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium, vanadium oxide, ruthenium oxide, oxides and other compounds, whether these compounds are catalysts, insulators or conductors. For example, the substrate may include ruthenium oxide, which is both an oxide and a conductor.

On the one hand, when the hot carriers are electrons, the semiconductor is chosen to be p-type. The p-type semiconductor 104 is physically coupled to the conducting planes (110 and/or 111) such that any potential barrier between them is very small or non-existent. For example, the interface conductor 110 may be placed on a thin electrode metal 111 bonded to the p-type semiconductor 104 . The electric barrier in the metal-metal contact 110, 111 is almost always negligible. On the other hand, the material separation between 110 and 111 can provide a desired barrier to heat transport with respect to phonon transport.

The highly doped semiconductor 104 includes a high doping confinement known as degenerate doping, and the reduction of the Schottky barrier between the electrodes and the semiconductor by interface conductors 110 or electrode materials 111 known to be compatible with forming electrical contact to the semiconductor. The electrode material 111 can also be another semiconductor, which is a method commonly used in the production technology of semiconductor devices. As a result, the Fermi level of the conducting plane and the Fermi level of the p-type semiconductor valence band (top edge of the lower band) are equal. The hot carrier energy is measured relative to the energy at the Fermi level of the conducting surface. As a result, some hot carriers close to the semiconductor have energies above the Fermi level of the conduction plane, and thus about the same energy above the Fermi level of the p-type semiconductor.

The hot carriers then try to enter the semiconductor 104 with excess energy above the mixed conduction plane, conductor and/or interface conductor 110 and semiconductor 104 valence bands. With this design, there are virtually no energy levels inside the semiconductor bandgap for electron excitation. The only energy levels available for hot electrons in the semiconductor 104 are in the upper, or conduction, band.

On the one hand, the location of this upper band is chosen to be slightly less than the principal energy of the electrons so that the electrons can easily enter the semiconductor 104 . This requirement can be achieved by constructing the semiconductor 104 with an energy bandgap smaller than the energy selected for the thermionic spectrum, or by selecting the semiconductor to have the desired energy bandgap. This means that the desired part of the hot electrons enters the p-type semiconductor in its conduction band. This energizes the conduction band of p-type semiconductor 104 . Thus, electrons are converted into minority carriers rather than ballistic carriers. Minority carriers generally have a lifetime longer than that of ballistic carriers.

On the other hand, when the hot carriers are holes, the semiconductor of choice is n-type. See the method described for p-type semiconductors, yielding the same result, ie short-lived carriers are converted to long-lived carriers. Advantageously, semiconductor materials with indirect and direct energy band gaps are available with energies ranging from a minimum of about 0.05 eV to band energies above most reactants, exceeding 3 eV.

The lifetime of minority carriers in semiconductors is generally at least 100 times longer than that of ballistic carriers. This longer lifetime provides opportunities for hot minority carriers to migrate, diffuse, or be attracted by the semiconductor internal field to the opposite type of semiconductor, ie, the n-type semiconductor internal region. The p-n junction creates a strong electric field that penetrates it and attracts minority carriers close to it.

In a semiconductor connection, the minority carriers in the semiconductor experience exactly the same conditions as they do in the photodiode. In a photodiode, the electric field at the p-n junction scavenges hot carriers across this junction, forward biasing the diode and developing a useful potential.

In one aspect, the thickness of the p-type semiconductor 104 diode layer is chosen to be smaller than the energy diffusion length of the minority carriers that transport the energy. This mean free path is often referred to as the diffusion length. The carriers eventually recombine and generate heat over a distance longer than the diffusion length. Such diffusion lengths are typically on the order of 200 nm or greater.

On the one hand, diodes 104, 105, 106 may be similar to photodiodes, with key, non-significant differences. Known photodiodes must be formed from an area close to the connection point large enough to collect light passing through it. It is usually larger than hundreds of nanometers. In order to increase the light collection distance, the semiconductor connection must contain at least one less doped region. This limitation forces the doping of the n or p regions of the photodiode to be much smaller than the bulk or degenerative doping considered. This lower doping level reduces the resistive region product of the diode and thus reduces its efficiency.

Unlike known photodiodes, the diodes 104, 105, 106 do not need to collect such photons and do not require a large photon collection area. The diodes 104, 105, 106 in the device therefore do not require one or more of the other semiconductor regions to be lightly doped. Diodes 104, 105, 106 can thus use highly doped or degenerately doped semiconductors as a free parameter for engineering design. This doping maximizes resistive region production and thus diode efficiency. Thus, diodes 104, 105, 106 may have both highly or degenerately doped n 106 and p 104 regions. Unlike photodiodes, high doping increases the energy-harvesting efficiency of the diode. High doping also increases the electric field, thereby facilitating the cleaning of injected minority carriers across the junction 105 .

Accordingly, semiconductor 104 may be degenerately doped to a shallow depth, such as 0.1-0.5 microns (100-500 nanometers). Highly doped and degenerately doped semiconductors can be used to minimize the distance of the conductors 110, 111 to the surface of the diode 104 where hot carriers are generated and to the p-n junction 105 where the forward bias is generated. Therefore, highly doped and small p-n junction size becomes a useful approach. High doping also allows the use of thinner semiconductors, such as those less than 1 micron thick. It also allows for convenient doping instances.

The provided methods and devices yield practically useful efficiencies (greater than 20%) and can achieve energized molecular energy densities as low as on the order of 10 watts per square centimeter. Diode efficiency increases rapidly with energy, so using greater than 10 watts per square centimeter can lead to higher efficiencies greater than 10 watts, as a non-linear benefit.

Figure 2 shows a cross-section of the energy converter portion of the device of an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, gas phase energized molecules 101 generate thermally energized electrons that move to p-n junction semiconductor diodes 104, 105, and 106, forward biasing them and generating current. As shown, energized molecules 101 flow to the mixing conduction surface. Deenergized molecules 109, also referred to as discharge products, leave the mixing conducting surface. Gas surface interactions result in the generation of hot electrons, which forward bias the semiconductor diode formed by p-type semiconductor 104 , p-n junction 105 and n-type semiconductor 106 .

The conductive surface includes an optional catalyst 102, a conductor 103, an optional interface conductor 110 and an optional interface semiconductor 111, such as a p-type semiconductor. Conductor 103 forms a substrate for interaction with energized molecules 101 . Optionally, an optional catalyst structure 102 may be formed on this conductor 103 .

Alternative interfacial conductor 110 and alternative interfacial p-type semiconductor indicate that material constraints may result in a forced need for different types of materials. For example, one type of conductor 103 may be required for optimal interaction with energizing molecules 101 . Another type of interface conductor 110 may be required for forming an ohmic or near-ohmic connection to interface semiconductor 111 . Such a resistive connection may be required for the ohmic connection of the diode semiconductor 104 . The optional catalyst 102, conductor 103, and interface conductor 110 materials may be formed from the same material, such as a conductor, when the materials are compatible. The interface semiconductor 111 and the diode semiconductor 104 may also be the same.

For example, the optional catalyst 102 or conductor 103 or interface conductor 110 may form an ohmic or near-ohmic connection with the interface semiconductor 111 when the interface semiconductor 111 is heavily doped (also referred to as degenerately doped). In this case, the optional catalyst 102 or conductor 103 can be used as substrate interface conductor 110 to connect the conductive plane to the semiconductor diode.

The hot electrons generated in the mixed conduction plane are the ballistic majority carriers in the conductor. These electrons, having sufficient energy to enter the semiconductor conduction band, move to the p-type semiconductor 104, where the electrons are converted into minority carriers. Electrical balancing occurs by migration of low energy holes to the p-type semiconductor 104 of the mixed conduction plane. Minority carriers move to the p-n junction 105 of the diode by diffusion and the internal electric field of the junction 105 . This internal electric field causes the carriers to become the majority carriers of the n-type semiconductor 106 of the diode, causing the diode to be forward biased. A current is generated by forward biasing the diode. This current is taken as a forward current between the positive electrode 108 and the negative electrode 107 .

On the other hand, referring to FIG. 2 , the reaction zones near 101 , 109 and near 102 , 103 may include the surface of the mixing conductive surface of the collection zone. Catalyst contained in 102 and/or reaction stimulating mechanism contained in optional catalyst 102 both on the mixing conduction surface is used to generate fuel and oxidize 101, and for 109, include volume regions on the mixing conduction surface and near 109 Energizing molecules 109 are formed within, or on the mixing conducting surface immediately adjacent to the mixing conducting surface. The term "proximate" means within several diffusion dimensions of the energetically excited products within the product stream 109, as described in this specification.

Figure 3 shows a cross-section of the energy converter portion of the device, in this case energized molecules generating thermal energized electrons that move to a Schottky junction semiconductor diode, forward biasing it and generating an electric current. The gas-phase energized molecules 101 flow onto the mixing conduction surface. Deenergized molecules 109, also referred to as discharge products, leave the region of the conducting surface. The result of this interaction is the generation of hot electrons. Hot electrons having energy higher than the Schottky barrier move to semiconductor diodes 110 , 111 , and 104 and forward bias them. Diodes 110 , 111 and 104 are formed by connecting conductive plane 110 and n-type semiconductors 111 and 104 .

On the other hand, the conductive surface may include optional catalyst 102 , conductor 103 , optional interfacial conductive electrode 110 and optional interfacial n-type semiconductor 111 . The optional interfacial conduction electrode 110 and the optional interfacial n-type semiconductor 111 suggest that material constraints may be forced to require one type of conductive material facing the energizing molecule 101 conductor 103 and another facing the interface semiconductors 111 and 104 type of conductive material interface conductor 110 . The conductor 103 forms a substrate for preferential interaction with the energizing molecules. Optional catalyst structures may also be formed on conductor 103 . Another type of interface conductor 110 may be used to form a Schottky junction of semiconductor 111 . Semiconductor 111 and semiconductor 104 may be identical in some designs. The optional catalyst 102, conductor 103, and interface conductor 110 materials may be formed from the same material, such as a conductor, when the materials are compatible. For example, catalysts or metals can form the Schottky junction of semiconductors. In this embodiment, an optional catalyst 102 or conductor 103 or interface conductor 110 may be used as interface conductor 110 to connect the conducting plane to the semiconductor diode.

Hot electrons generated on the mixed conduction surface and interface conductor 110 are ballistic majority carriers within the conductor and move to the n-type semiconductors 111 and 104, where these electrons are also majority carriers. During this process, the electrons release energy as heat approximately equal to the difference between their initial energy above the Schottky barrier and the Fermi level of the n-type semiconductor.

Collisions of the crystal lattice and electrons within the semiconductor reduce the excess energy to a value substantially smaller than that of the barrier. The result of this loss of energy is to reduce the number of electrons moving in the opposite direction. This allows for a forward bias across the diode.

Charge balancing occurs by migration from holes on the conducting surface 110 . These electrons cause diodes 110, 111 and 104 to be forward biased. Current is generated by the forward bias across diodes 110 , 111 and 104 and used as a forward bias between the positive electrode 108 and the negative electrode 107 .

Substrate 110 may be a conductor selected for forming a Schottky barrier at a metal-semiconductor junction. The substrate 110 can thus also form the electrical connection of a diode, which is also referred to as a diode electrode.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-section of a device functionally similar to that described with reference to FIG. 1 . The difference is that the semiconductor diode shown in Figure 4 is a Schottky junction instead of the p-n junction of Figure 1.

In the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 4 , it can be easily deduced and observed that the physical location of the reaction zone 116 can be any of the following: 1) the same as the collection zone 114; 2) the same substrate 102, 103 and 110 3) near the collection region 114 on a nanostructure or microstructure close to the collection region 114; 4) completely independent of the collection region; or 5) include multiple different types of Response to stimuli.

On the other hand, the apparatus shown in Figures 1 and 4 shows how physical separation of the reaction zone and collection zone can facilitate thermal considerations. That is, the reaction zone can be kept at a much higher temperature than the collection zone due to the physical separation.

The reaction zone 116 shown in Figures 1 and 4 may be a thin cylinder, for example shaped like a wire, coaxially surrounded by a collection zone shaped as a larger dimension cylinder or box. The reaction zone 116 may be a planar surface of the same dimensions as the collection zone, for example as the opposite side of the cell structure or the opposite side or wall of the channel structure. The reaction zone 116 may be a set of wire-like regions separate from and located on the surface of the sheet-like collection zone 114 . The collection zone 114 may form a plateau or column surrounded by a wire-like reaction zone means, point-like reaction zone. These structures are presented only as examples of methods for separating the reaction and collection zones. The structures of Figures 1 and 4 represent the general concept of the separation zone.

In another embodiment, referring to FIGS. 1 and 4 , the reaction zones 115 , 116 may be designed to operate at a higher temperature than the collection zone 114 . Reaction zones 115, 116 may include response stimuli 117, 118, 119, such as electrical, optical or chemical injection stimuli, which may require thermal separation, electrical separation, optical waveguides, and chemical injectors. The reaction zones 115 , 116 may include heat sinks, not shown in the figures, which are separate from the heat sinks of the collection zone 114 . Heat may also be removed by convection of the gas stream 109 through the reaction zones 115,116.

Reaction zone 116 includes a stimulus or catalyst. These substances may include structures 119, electrical stimulants, light stimulants, catalysts generally shown at 117, thermal wires or structures generally shown at 118, and injected chemical stimuli such as autocatalysts and free radical generators or reactive stimuli things. Examples of additional autocatalysts and free radical generators include the use of additives such as hydrogen peroxide and methanol.

Figure 5 shows a cross-section of a device storing stimuli generated by excited molecules. This arrangement may be similar to that described with reference to FIG. 2 . In the arrangement shown in Fig. 5, the thermode can be used in another way than generating an electric current. The hot electrons originating from the energized molecules form electrons in the p-type semiconductor 104 and holes in the n-type semiconductor 106 , which diffuse to other regions 131 of the semiconductor, including along the junction 130 . There the hot carriers can be used for other purposes. In FIG. 5, elements of collection region, reactant 101, effluent 109, optional catalyst 102, conductor 103, interface conductor 110, interface semiconductor 111, p-type semiconductor 104, junction 105, and n-type semiconductor 106 can be The functions of the components in Fig. 2 are similar.

Semiconductor region 106, shown as n-type, may actually be p-type with a lower doping than p-type region 104, or region 106 may be bulk (undoped). Application of an electrical signal between region 106 and p-type region 104 can be used to control the movement and storage of carriers.

On the one hand, semiconductor structures can be designed to store charge carriers generated by hot electrons. These semiconductors can collect electrons in one region and allow the resulting longer-lived carriers to diffuse to other regions. The present invention can distribute the long-lived carriers to other locations on the reaction surface. These transported carriers can then leave the semiconductor and be converted back to ballistic carriers at the conducting or reactive surface and perform useful work. These works include stimuli-responsive and energetic nanochemical devices or molecular energy. Examples of these nanochemical devices include nanopropellers, C60 transistors, and biomaterial kinesins.

Carriers in other regions may result in population inversion of electrons and holes within the semiconductor, or may result in transport of carriers to another surface for injection into that surface, or may result in transport of carriers to a complete area for some other useful purpose.

Examples of other purposes include injecting carriers into the semiconductor to control current flow, such as in a transistor; re-injecting carriers from the surface of the semiconductor 131 to the surface of the adsorbate attached to it to cause a chemical reaction or to impart to the adsorbate energy to make it more reactive or excited by energy; cause a chemical reaction; control a chemical reaction; stimulate a reaction; energize a surface adsorbate into an excited state; Piezo-electric or electrostrictive elements to cause conversion to mechanical motion; cause population responses to cause light emission; inject into quantum well structures to cause electromagnetic emission; energize semiconductor circuits; and/or convert to other forms, including Phonon.

FIG. 6 shows a cross-section of a device functionally equivalent to that described with reference to FIG. 5 . In the device shown in Figure 6, the use of carriers in the semiconductor p-n junction 105 is an inverted population. In this mode, energy 111 is extracted from the diode in a manner similar to a laser diode or light emitting diode, where element 112 represents an optical element. The operation of such laser diodes and light emitting diodes is generally known to those skilled in the art and thus will not be explained here.

Figure 7 shows a device with separate reaction and collection zones. The reaction zone 713, including the catalyst 703 and/or the reaction stimuli 701, 702, may be located on a portion of the substrate 710 that includes the conductive surface 704 and its associated semiconductor transducer elements (including the conductive surface 704, interface conductors 705, electrodes 706 , p-type semiconductor 707, junction 708, n-type semiconductor 709, substrate 710) the collection region 714 is located in another part of the substrate.

As shown in FIG. 7 , the reaction zone 713 can be designed to be smaller than the collection zone 714 . The reaction zone 713 may also be arranged within or partially surrounded by a larger collection region 714 . Catalyst 703 of reaction zone 713 may also be separated from collection zone 714, which partially surrounds reaction zone 713.

Referring to FIG. 7 , a fuel passage 715 separate from air or oxidant flow 716 may be formed. This separation can take many forms. For example, a collection region 714 may be formed having voids 712 penetrating into a substantial source of liquid fuel 715 . Fuel molecules 113 thus cause the adsorbed species to predominate over catalyst 703 or collection zone 714 . The catalyst-fuel assembly may be part of collection surface 704 or reaction surface 703, or both.

Fuel and/or heat of fuel vaporization may be used to cool a semiconductor power converter, which may include conduction plane 704, interface conductor 705, electrode 706, p-type semiconductor 707, junction 708, n-type semiconductor 709, substrate 710 . This is a new approach to simultaneously cool semiconductors and increase the reuse rate of hot carriers without conversion into electric current. For example, referring to FIG. 7 , fuel 113 including catalyst or conductive surface 704 may absorb thermal electrons that do not enter energy converter semiconductor 708 . Upon absorption, the fuel can then dissociate into reactive groups and become part of a chemical reaction. The fuel or its separated products can be desorbed with or without thermionics and mixed with the radicals in the reaction zone 713 . The fuel could also simply evaporate from the region 712 where it is physically connected to the semiconductors 708,709 and pass into the reaction region 713, cooling the semiconductors 708,709. Thus a high concentration of vaporized fuel 113 can bias the fuel/oxidizer mixture for optimum mixing.

Referring to FIG. 8 , a thermal barrier 810 may be formed between the reaction 811 and collection 812 regions, so that the reaction region 811 may operate at a higher temperature than the collection region 812 . These thermal barriers may include posts 810, vacuums or channels with a reduced amount of physical material. A heat source may be connected to the reaction zone 811 and a heat sink to the collection zone 812 to keep these zones within their desired operating ranges. Reaction zone 811 may be formed by elevated structures such as rods, platforms and columns 810 . The structure can be designed to be thermally insulated.

Referring to Figure 8, an electrically insulating barrier 810 can be formed between the two regions 811, 812 so that electrical stimulation signals can be sent to the reaction zone without disturbing the collection zone. Other barriers and structures can be located between these regions, for example to separate or filter radiation, or to filter chemical by-products, or to separate molecules with multiple properties such as translational, rotational or combined properties.

Using a Schottky junction as an energy converter simplifies the setup. Semiconductors such as silicon with band gaps in the order of one volt range can be used. On the one hand, higher bandgap semiconductors can be used, thus allowing these devices to operate at temperatures above room temperature, such as above 100 degrees Celsius. Industrially available high temperature semiconductors such as GaN and SiC are examples of such higher bandgap materials. This expands the range of metals and semiconductors that can be used and results in increased power available per area.

On the one hand, energized molecules can be used to generate charge carriers instead of applying voltage for energizing external devices. Energizing molecules can thus be used in power devices that would otherwise have to be powered by a current source. For example, chemical reactions can also be used to power chipsets. Powering the chipset using chemical reactions allows for volumetric, three-dimensional computing systems where the energy source that powers them is a flow of fuel-oxidizer mixture rather than an electrical connection. This allows systems without physical interconnections and without any structural interconnections, such as in pebble bed reactor systems. A micro-stack of electrical energy can be energized by a fuel-oxidizer mixture, where such a micro-stack is part of a physically separate "pebble". This in turn allows for self-assembling volumetric systems, greatly reducing their cost and increasing their performance.

On the other hand, quantum wells are used and energized as energy converters. The device's energy converter converts short-lived carriers into long-lived carriers so that the resulting carriers can be further used. A quantum well substrate including a tunneling barrier, a metal or a semiconductor, and another tunneling barrier can be used to form an energy converter. Such energy converters can also be formed in direct contact with the substrate semiconductor. Another way energy can be obtained is by generating an electric potential. But another approach could be electrical nanodevices which are directly related to the present invention. According to the state of the art, an external electric current is used to energize the quantum wells and dots that form a near-ideal Class 4 laser. In the provided device, the same type of wells and dots can be directly energized by the energy of the injected carriers.

Quantum wells also offer the possibility to create resonances that trap excitations of energized molecules. The resonance levels formed by quantum wells can be engineered to match multiple quantum transitions in chemically excited products. This matching provides a long-lived excitation that transfers energy from the excited product to the quantum well. For example, the provided methods can harvest energy from quantum wells by stimulating radiation emission.

The state of the art related to semiconductor or metallic quantum well structures allows layers with dimensions smaller than or on the order of the order of energy diffusion length of the ballistic carriers involved, facilitating and enabling fabrication.

In one aspect, the conductive surface may comprise a number of materials. A sufficiently thin surface can be formed on the semiconductor structure, eg, a thickness less than 10 times the energy diffusion length of the hot electrons, so that the hot electrons can enter the semiconductor before releasing a substantial portion, eg, no more than 90%, of their energy.

The conductive surface and the underlying semiconductor may include catalysts and other reaction-stimulating systems to cause a chemical reaction of the energized molecules or to cause energy to be transferred away from or transferred to the energized molecules. That is, the conductive surface may also be part of a response-stimuli surface energized by the application of energy, such as an electric current.

The conductive surface and the underlying semiconductor may include catalysts and other reactive stimulus systems. These can be used to prevent adsorbates such as fuels, oxidizers, effluents, reaction by-products or other materials from clogging, accumulating or interfering with the operation of conducting surfaces, which is known to occur when non-conductors are formed and accumulate on conducting surfaces. These catalysts and other response stimulating systems can also accelerate the reaction and can cause the preferred response to occur.

Although the present invention has been specifically shown and described according to the embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will understand that changes in the above embodiments and other forms and details can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. .

Claims (37)

1. A method of obtaining energy comprising: Initiate one or more chemical reactions in the gas volume; and One or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products are produced in the gas phase, wherein one or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products are allowed to collide on the surface of the substrate and the vibrational energy associated with the one or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products is transferred in the form of hot carriers to apparently, and The kinetic energy of the hot carriers is converted into useful work. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more reaction products comprise one or more intermediate reaction products. 3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: collecting kinetic energy of the hot carriers from the surface. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein inducing one or more chemical reactions comprises stimulating one or more reactions in the volume by injecting one or more stimulants. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the one or more stimulants include any one or more of catalysts, hot carriers, electrical stimulants, and photostimulants. 6. The method of claim 3 , wherein collecting the kinetic energy of the hot carriers by the surface comprises transferring the momentum of the hot carriers from the surface to a converter that transfers the hot carriers to The kinetic energy of the flow particles is converted into one or more forms of useful energy. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the converter comprises a diode. 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the useful energy comprises one or more of electrical, radiative and mechanical energy. 9. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating one or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products comprises moving reactants in the gas phase by diffusion to react with stimulants in the gas volume near the substrate surface. 10. The method of claim 1 , wherein producing one or more highly vibrationally excited reaction products comprises moving reactants in the gas phase by diffusion to react with stimulants on the substrate surface in the gas volume . 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the useful work comprises electrical potential. 12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hot carriers include one or both of hot electrons and hot holes. 13. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least part of the vibrational energy is transferred directly to the surface in the form of hot carriers. 14. A device for obtaining energy, comprising: Response stimulators for initiating chemical reactions; a substrate forming a collection surface; a reaction volume formed between the reaction stimulator and the collection surface; and the energy converter in contact with the substrate, where chemical reactants in the gas phase can react in the reaction volume and collide with the substrate, transferring reaction energy to the substrate in the form of hot carriers from the reaction products occurring in the reaction volume, the transferred The energy can be converted into a useful form of energy by means of an energy converter. 15. The device for harvesting energy according to claim 14, wherein the energy converter comprises a diode. 16. The device for harvesting energy according to claim 14, wherein the energy converter comprises a p-n junction diode. 17. The device for harvesting energy according to claim 14, wherein the energy converter comprises a Schottky diode. 18. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein the distance perpendicular to the collection surface from the farthest portion of the reaction volume is a multiple of the vibrational energy diffusion length of the reactants. 19. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein proximate the response volume further comprises a second response stimulator. 20. The energy harvesting device of claim 19, wherein the second response stimulator comprises any one or more of an electrical stimulator, a light stimulator, a heating wire, and a chemical stimulator. 21. The energy harvesting device of claim 20, wherein the chemical stimulant comprises one or more of an autocatalyst and a free radical generator. 22. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein the path from the reactant-facing surface to the semiconductor is less than four times the energy diffusion length of the carriers. 23. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein said substrate comprises one or more atomic metallic monolayers of one or more selected materials. 24. The energy harvesting device of claim 23, wherein the one or more selected materials comprise any one or more of metals and semiconductors. 25. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein the collection surface has a geometry that facilitates excitation of molecules during a reaction. 26. The energy-harvesting device of claim 25, wherein the geometry conducive to exciting molecules comprises atomic surface steps. 27. The energy-harvesting device of claim 25, wherein said geometries conducive to exciting molecules include atomic edges. 28. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein said substrate comprises one or more metals that do not receive adsorbates. 29. The energy harvesting device of claim 28, wherein the one or more metals that do not receive adsorbates include any one or more of platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, gold, and silver. 30. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein the substrate comprises a conducting surface, the phonon band of the conducting surface has an energy less than a multiquantum vibrational relaxation. 31. The energy harvesting device of claim 30, wherein said conductive surface comprises a crystalline material. 32. The energy harvesting device of claim 30, wherein the conductive surface comprises either or both of palladium and platinum. 33. The device for harvesting energy according to claim 14, further comprising a channel formed under the energy converter and the substrate and through them to the reaction zone, wherein any one of the reactant and the stimulant or A variety of feed into the reaction zone. 34. The energy harvesting device of claim 33, wherein any one or more of a reactant and a stimulant in the channel cools the energy converter. 35. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein said useful energy comprises electrical potential. 36. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein the distance from the farthest portion of the reaction volume perpendicular to the collection surface is less than four times the vibrational energy diffusion length of the reactants. 37. The energy harvesting device of claim 14, wherein said hot carriers include one or both of hot electrons and hot holes.

Images