Neutrinovoltaics: technical background in focus

Technical background of Neutrinovoltaic® technology

Neutrinovoltaic® technology uses a multilayer graphene-based nanomaterial to convert the thermal motion of graphene atoms and the energy of invisible radiation, including neutrinos, into electric current. The invention was patented in 2013 (international patent WO2016142056A1) and consists of alternating layers of graphene and doped silicon. The nanomaterial is applied to a metallic substrate, usually aluminium. A power generation plate measuring 200×300 mm produces a voltage of approx. 1.5 V and a current of approx. 2 A under normal conditions at 20 °C.

A mechanism by which the energy of surrounding radiation fields can be converted into electric current

Graphene, the only currently known material belonging to the 2D materials, can only exist stably as a 3D material in a three-dimensional coordinate system. Looking at the graphene layer through a high-resolution microscope, you can see wave-like vibrations, as on the surface of the sea, when neighbouring areas alternate between concave and convex curvature. The vibrations of the graphene atoms, also known as “graphene waves”, are amplified by the influence of energy and thermal fields. Theoretical studies show that electron-phonon coupling is the source of this process, as it suppresses the stiffness of long-wave bending and amplifies out-of-plane fluctuations.

The presence of “graphene waves” makes it possible to generate an electric current, with the amplitude and frequency of the “graphene wave” vibrations depending on the quality of the graphene deposition.

The amplitude and frequency of the “graphene wave” vibrations decrease when the graphene deposition technology is violated and several layers are applied on top of one another. These experimental results were independently confirmed by ETH professor Vanessa Wood (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich) and her colleagues. They showed that when materials smaller than 10–20 nanometres are produced – 5,000 times thinner than a human hair – the vibrations of the outer atomic layers on the surface of nanoparticles are large and play an important role in the behaviour of this material. These atomic vibrations, or “phonons”, are responsible for the transfer of electric charge and heat in materials.

Adhering to the graphene deposition technology is therefore an important task, especially for plates larger than 100 x 100 mm. Graphene has an extremely high electric current density, a million times higher than that of copper, and record charge carrier mobility. Each atom in graphene is bonded to 3 other carbon atoms in a two-dimensional plane, leaving one electron free in the third dimension for electronic conductivity.

Professor Thibado of the University of Arkansas explained in an interview with the journal Research Frontiers that this is the key to using the motion of 2D materials as an energy source. Tandem vibrations in the graphene layer make it possible to harvest energy from the surrounding space using state-of-the-art nanotechnology.

Graphene films are strong and elastic. Graphene has high thermal conductivity which, combined with its high electrical conductivity, allows the passage of an electric current millions of times higher than the maximum possible current in copper layers. At elevated temperatures, electrons pass into the conduction band, leaving “holes” in the valence band. This determines the sufficiently high electrical conductivity of graphene at room temperature. Conduction electrons and “holes” in graphene have no effective mass and move constantly at the “Fermi velocity”, which is already relativistic. This leads to a very high charge carrier mobility in graphene, at least two orders of magnitude higher than in silicon, and to their “ballistic” motion along the layer. The mean free path of conduction electrons and holes in graphene at room temperature is more than 1 μm.

The harmonic vibrations of “graphene waves” turning into resonance are in fact the work needed to convert the thermal (Brownian) motion of graphene atoms and the energy of the particles of the surrounding radiation fields of the invisible spectrum, including the kinetic energy of neutral neutrino particles, into electric current.

In Neutrinovoltaic® technology, an electromotive force (EMF) arises in each graphene layer due to the interaction of magnetic and electric fields, similar to the electrical generators currently built in power plants or the Bedini power generation circuits that have been developed and other magnet motor designs for fuel-free power generation. The main difference, however, is that in Neutrinovoltaic® technology the pulsating mechanism of interaction does not arise from the rotation of a rotor with a magnetic coil, but from the process of micro-vibration of graphene in the nanomaterial, which is another physical principle by which EMF arises.

The EMF arising in each graphene layer causes electrons to flow in one direction, which means that an electric current is created. This is achieved by applying sub-layers of each layer with alloying elements that create a p-n junction and thus let electric current pass in one direction only, similar to the effect of a thin-film diode. The multilayer structure of the nanomaterial solves the problem of obtaining maximum electrical power from a unit surface, since a single layer of graphene cannot supply enough energy for industrial applications.

Influence of neutrinos on the vibration processes of a “graphene wave”

In 2019 it was published that scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) had been able to determine the mass of neutrinos with unprecedented accuracy. According to KIT, neutrinos are at least 500,000 times lighter than an electron, with a mass of about 1.1 electronvolts. Publications by the COHERENT collaboration at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (USA) clarified and described the mechanism of the interaction of neutrinos with matter.

It was shown that low-energy neutrinos take part in a weak interaction with argon nuclei known as coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS). Much like a tennis ball hitting a bowling ball, neutrinos strike the large, heavy nucleus of an atom and transfer a tiny amount of energy to it. As a result, the nucleus recoils almost imperceptibly.

A similar interaction of low-energy neutrinos takes place with graphene. In the periodic table of chemical elements, argon has atomic number 18 and an atomic weight of 39.948, while graphene (carbon) has atomic number 6 and an atomic weight of 12.011. This suggests that the effect of neutrino impacts on the nuclei of graphene atoms will be more pronounced than on argon nuclei. The effect of the interaction with graphene nuclei will be the greater, the greater the kinetic energy of the neutrinos.

This means that the vibrations of the graphene atoms are stronger. The nucleus of a graphene atom is very small compared with the size of the graphene atom itself, so only a small proportion of neutrinos with mass can interact with the nucleus of a graphene atom and make it vibrate.

The neutrino flux through 1 cm² of the Earth’s surface is 60 billion per second, so even a fraction of a per cent of such a neutrino flux contributes to the oscillation process of “graphene waves”. However, it is currently not possible to estimate the contribution of the neutrino effect to the oscillation of graphene atoms compared with other energy fields and thermal (Brownian) motion. International scientists from renowned faculties have nevertheless clearly confirmed this process scientifically, which is why the technology and its applications are called Neutrinovoltaic®.

Source – Energiewirtschaft.io (German)