Photoelectric effect induced by blackbody radiation: a theoretical analysis of a potential heat energy harvesting mechanism

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of a blackbody radiation-induced photoelectric effect as a potential method for ambient thermal energy harvesting, supported by numerical simulations and preliminary experimental evidence.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical model for the photoelectric effect induced by blackbody radiation and evaluates its feasibility for energy harvesting.

Findings

The process is theoretically plausible based on simulations.

Preliminary experiments suggest possible real-world occurrence.

Power density remains too low for practical use.

Abstract

The photoelectric effect induced by blackbody radiation could be a mechanism to harvest ambient thermal energy at a uniform temperature. Here, I describe (without going too much into mathematical details) the theoretical model I developed starting from 2010 to study that phenomenon, and I summarize the results of the numerical simulations. Simulations tell us that the process must be there. Moreover, at least two experimental tests have been performed in the past years that seem to corroborate, although not definitely, the alleged functioning of the proposed mechanism. Unfortunately, at present, the obtainable power density is extremely low and inadequate for immediate practical applications.