Three-Terminal Energy Harvester with Coupled Quantum Dots

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel three-terminal quantum dot energy harvester that decouples heat and charge flows, allowing for controlled charge current manipulation and paving the way for efficient nanoscale heat engines.

Contribution

It introduces a new three-terminal design with coupled quantum dots that separates heat and charge flows, enabling advanced control over thermoelectric energy harvesting.

Findings

Decoupling of heat and charge flows in the device.

Control of charge current direction via gate voltages.

Potential for highly efficient nanoscale heat engines.

Abstract

Rectification of thermal fluctuations in mesoscopic conductors is the key idea of today's attempts to build nanoscale thermoelectric energy harvesters in order to convert heat into a useful electric power. So far, most concepts make use of the Seebeck effect in a two-terminal geometry where heat and charge are both carried by the same particles. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the working principle of a new kind of energy harvester, proposed recently using two capacitively coupled quantum dots. We show that due to its novel three-terminal design which spatially separates the heat reservoir from the conductor circuit, the directions of charge and heat flow become decoupled in our device. This enables us to manipulate the direction of the generated charge current by means of external gate voltages while leaving the direction of heat flow unaffected. Our results pave the way for a new generation of multi-terminal, highly efficient nanoscale heat engines.