 TRACK/THEME : NANOTECHNOLOGY

 NAME OF AUTHORS :

1. SUJATA DEY: 07BCH066

2.RAJVI.S.JHAVERI : 07BCH016

 NAME OF TOPIC:
SOLAR NANTENNA: NANO STEP TOWARDS A BIG CHANGE
 COLLEGE NAME:
NIRMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
 UNIVERSITY NAME:
NIRMA UNIVERSITY
 EMAIL ID:
sujata.dey.23@gmail.com
rajvisjhaveri@yahoo.co.in
 CONTACT NO:
Sujata dey: 9998575363
Rajvi jhaveri: 9327137075
 SOLAR NANTENNA: NANO STEP TOWARDS A BIG
CHANGE

ABSTRACT:

The concept is to utilize nanotechnology for full utilization of solar energy incident on
the earth.Invented by Idaho national laboratory, USA the nantennas or solar
nantennas electromagnetic collectors target mid-infrared wavelengths, where
conventional photovoltaic solar cells are inefficient and where there is abundance of
solar energy. But being environment friendly should also be economical. Due to the
development of newer technologies which allow economic methods to be employed
for fabrication of nano materials, this technology now is bound to provide a low cost,
high efficiency conversion of solar to electrical energy. The initial concept of
designing NEC was based on scaling of radio frequency antenna theory. The NEC
devices can be optimized for collection of discrete bands of electromagnetic energy.
Double-sided panels could absorb a broad spectrum of energy from the sun during
the day, while the other side might be designed to take in the narrow frequency of
energy produced from the earth's radiated heat or potentially residual heat from
electronic devices. Thus nantennas can be made to work at night also compared to
conventional pv cells which work only during daylight.
 The technology has following benefits for the environment:
1.It is environment friendly and will reduce the dependency on conventional sources
of energy.
2.Non-polluting generation of energy.
3.Much more efficient than conventional PV cells
The working and description is explained as follows:
 When an antenna is excited into a resonance mode by incoming solar
radiation it induces a cyclic plasma movement of free electron from the metal
antenna. The electrons freely flow along the antenna generating alternating
current at the same frequency as the resonance. Electromagnetic modelling
illustrates the current flow is towards the antenna feed point (point of lowest
impedance). Figure 1 was acquired from modelling the electromagnetic
properties of an infrared spiral antenna. The e-field is concentrated at the
centre feed point.
Antennas have electromagnetic radiation patterns, which allow them to exhibit gain
and directionality and effectively collect and concentrate energy. This is illustrated by
fig2

Figure 2. Typical electromagnetic radiation patterns of antenna.

 RLC circuit analog of NEC is shown in Figure 3. The electrical behaviour of

the structure is described as follows. The metal loops give inductance as
thermally-excited radiation induces current. The gaps between the metallic
loops and the gap within loops compose capacitors with a dielectric fill. A
resistance is present because the antenna is composed of lossy metallic
elements on a dielectric substrate.
 Fig3: RLC circuit analog of NEC
 E-beam lithography as described by the fig4 provided a convenient way to
systematically investigate dimensional, spacing, and geometrical effects in a
controlled manner. However, the throughput and cost limitations of EBL do
not support large scale manufacturing.

Figure 4. Fabrication process flow for a square-slot IR FSS.

 However, due to recent advancements in ultra-high-resolution lithography and
roll-to-roll (R2R) processing of flexible polymer films, low cost manufacturing
is now possible.
 A key feature of this highly innovative manufacturing technique is that a
"master pattern”, which can be relatively expensive, is used to mechanically
"print" the precision pattern (analogous to a printing plate in the graphic arts
field) on an inexpensive flexible substrate. This pattern, in turn, is used to
create the metallic loop elements of the NEC device over large areas.
Figure 5 Nantenna sheet, stitched together from 18 coupons.
 Thus both modelling and experimental measurements demonstrate that the
individual nantennas can absorb close to 90 percent of the available in-band
energy. Optimization techniques, such as, increasing the radial field size
could potentially increase this efficiency to even higher percentages. Thus
nantennas are far more advantageous to PV cells.