Energy Harvesting Using THz Electronics

In this chapter we present a review and appraisal of energy harvesting using rectenna devices (‘rectifying antennas’) at THz and solar frequencies. The concept involves capturing the electromagnetic radiation in a nano-scale antenna and rectifying it to direct current. Rectennas may offer much higher efficiency than photovoltaics, in principle but there are considerable challenges in the engineering of such devices. In particular, the rectifier must provide a good match to the antenna at very low currents. Although high efficiency rectennas have been demonstrated at microwave frequencies, the device cannot simply be scaled to the higher frequencies of interest, due to the significant changes in materials properties and these are explained in the paper. Finally a design framework for one rectifier type is presented, namely the metal-insulator diode. This study serves to highlight the considerable challenges associated with the matching issue.

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