Pre-equilibrium chemical reaction energy converter

Abstract

The use of newly discovered chemical reaction products, created when reactants combine to form products on the surface of a catalyst, to generate electricity, beams of radiation or mechanical motion. The invention also provides methods to convert the products into electricity or motion. The electric generator consists of a catalyst nanocluster, nanolayer or quantum well placed on a substrate consisting of a semiconductor diode, and a semiconductor diode on the surface of the substrate near the catalyst. The device to generate mechanical motion consists of a catalyst nanocluster, nanolayer or quantum well placed on a substrate, and a hydraulic fluid in contact with the non-reaction side of the substrate, with the surfaces of both the catalyst and substrate mechanically formed to enhance the unidirectional forces on the fluid. Both devices use a fuel-oxidizer mixture brought in contact with the catalyst. The apparatus converts a substantial fraction of the reaction product energy into useful work during the brief interval before such products equilibrate with their surroundings.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of moving an object, comprising: 
 providing a catalyst on a substrate;    placing reactants in contact with the catalyst, the reactants interacting with the catalyst and generating phonons, wherein the phonons propagate into the substrate away from the catalyst; and    directing the phonons towards the object.    
     
     
         2 . The method of    claim 1   , wherein the catalyst is arranged in a plurality of clusters.  
     
     
         3 . The method of    claim 1   , wherein the object is a fluid in contact with a surface of the substrate.  
     
     
         4 . A method of generating electricity comprising: 
 forming species in highly excited states on a catalyst thereby radiating electromagnetic energy; and    converting the electromagnetic energy into electricity with a photovoltaic collector.    
     
     
         5 . The method of    claim 4   , wherein the species includes at least one of an excited state radical and an exhaust product.  
     
     
         6 . The method of    claim 4   , comprising stimulating and accelerating a reaction emission rate using an optical cavity.  
     
     
         7 . The method of    claim 4   , comprising stimulating an overtone radiation using an optical cavity.  
     
     
         8 . The method of    claim 7   , wherein the overtone radiation includes multipole radiation with a change in quantum number of two or more.  
     
     
         9 . The method of    claim 4   , wherein the catalyst operates at a peak surface power density greater than one watt per square centimeter.  
     
     
         10 . A method of generating electromagnetic energy comprising: 
 forming species in highly excited states on a catalyst; and    stimulating the species to emit electromagnetic radiation.    
     
     
         11 . A device for generating electricity, comprising: 
 a catalyst, and    a substrate, wherein the catalyst is arranged on the substrate and the substrate includes a substrate diode to receive charge carriers from the catalyst,    wherein upon introducing a fuel and an oxidizer in contact with the catalyst, charge carriers are emitted by the catalyst and an electrical potential is developed across the substrate diode.    
     
     
         12 . The device of    claim 11    comprising a non-conducting layer arranged between the substrate diode and the catalyst, wherein the non-conducting layer permits control over a forward-bias and forward current characteristic of the substrate diode.  
     
     
         13 . The device of    claim 11    comprising a surface diode, the surface diode being arranged on a reactant side of the catalyst to receive and capture electrons.  
     
     
         14 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the substrate diode is forward biased so as to raise its conduction and valence bands above a fermi level of the catalyst so as to match energy levels of the adsorbed species.  
     
     
         15 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the substrate diode comprises an InGaAsSb semiconductor.  
     
     
         16 . The device of    claim 13   , wherein the surface diode comprises an InGaAsSb semiconductor.  
     
     
         17 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the fuel includes at least one of ethanol, methanol and hydrogen.  
     
     
         18 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the substrate diode is a Schottky diode having a band gap larger than an energy of reactions on a surface of the catalyst.  
     
     
         19 . The device of    claim 13   , wherein the surface diode is a Schottky diode having a band gap larger than a bond energy or a reaction energy.  
     
     
         20 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the substrate diode is a Schottky diode having a barrier height in a range of 0.05 to 0.4 volts.  
     
     
         21 . The device of    claim 13   , wherein the surface diode is a Schottky diode having a barrier height in a range of 0.05 to 0.4 volts.  
     
     
         22 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the catalyst includes at least one of platinum and palladium.  
     
     
         23 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the catalyst includes at least one of a quantum well and a quantum dot having a thickness sufficiently small so as to alter a density of electron states in the catalyst to favor the production of substantially monoenergetic holes or electrons.  
     
     
         24 . The device of    claim 11   , comprising a layer of metal arranged between the substrate diode and the catalyst, wherein the layer of metal matches a catalyst lattice parameter and allows the metal and catalyst layers to be formed as a quantum well.  
     
     
         25 . The device of    claim 12   , wherein the catalyst has a thickness of one nanometer or less.  
     
     
         26 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the substrate diode includes an n-type direct band gap semiconductor having a band gap which favors emission of energetic electrons.  
     
     
         27 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein a dimension of the catalyst is sufficiently small so as to have properties unlike the same material in bulk.  
     
     
         28 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the catalyst includes at least one of gold, silver, copper, and nickel.  
     
     
         29 . The device of    claim 11    comprising a coolant on a bottom surface of the device.  
     
     
         30 . The device of    claim 11   , wherein the catalyst operates at a peak surface power density greater than one watt per square centimeter.  
     
     
         31 . A device for moving a fluid comprising: 
 a catalyst, wherein reactants impinging on a surface of the catalyst cause phonons to be generated;    a substrate, wherein the catalyst is arranged on a top side of the substrate; and    a hydraulic fluid, wherein the hydraulic fluid is in contact with a bottom side of the substrate,    wherein the substrate acts as an acoustic waveguide for the phonons, conveying the phonons to the bottom side of the substrate so as to move the hydraulic fluid in a preferred direction.    
     
     
         32 . The device of    claim 31   , wherein the top side of the substrate has a cross section with a sawtooth pattern.  
     
     
         33 . The device of    claim 31   , wherein the catalyst and an inert material are arranged on portions of the top side of the substrate so as to control the generation of phonons.  
     
     
         34 . The device of    claim 32   , wherein the catalyst and an inert material are arranged on alternating facets of the sawtooth pattern.  
     
     
         35 . The device of    claim 31   , wherein the bottom side of the substrate has a cross section with a sawtooth pattern.  
     
     
         36 . The device of    claim 31   , wherein a wave including at least one of an acoustic, ultrasonic and a gigahertz acoustic Rayleigh wave is applied to the catalyst to stimulate a reaction rate and synchronize the phonon emission, thereby enhancing a magnitude of the phonon emission and causing coherent emission.  
     
     
         37 . The device of    claim 31   , comprising a layer of material arranged between the substrate and the fluid, wherein the material causes the phonons to be transmitted from the substrate substantially into the fluid.  
     
     
         38 . A device for generating electricity comprising: 
 a catalyst; and    a substrate, wherein the catalyst is arranged on a surface of the substrate and the substrate includes a piezoelectric element,    wherein phonons generated upon interaction of the catalyst with reactants travel through the piezoelectric element which develops an electrical potential as a result.    
     
     
         39 . The device of    claim 38   , wherein the catalyst includes at least one of a nanocluster, nanolayer and a quantum well.  
     
     
         40 . The device of    claim 38   , wherein the piezoelectric element includes a semiconductor having piezoelectric properties caused by a lattice mismatch between the semiconductor and the catalyst.  
     
     
         41 . The device of    claim 38   , wherein the substrate focuses phonons so as to enhance a non-linear responses.  
     
     
         42 . The device of    claim 38   , wherein a wave including at least one of an acoustic, ultrasonic and a gigahertz acoustic Rayleigh wave is applied to the catalyst to stimulate a reaction rate and synchronize the phonon emission, thereby enhancing a magnitude of the phonon emission and causing coherent emission.  
     
     
         43 . A device for generating electricity comprising: 
 a catalyst;    a substrate, wherein the catalyst is arranged on the substrate; and a    a photovoltaic converter, the photovoltaic converter being located anywhere visible to radiation emitted by reactions involving the catalyst.    
     
     
         44 . The device of    claim 43   , wherein the catalyst includes at least one of a nanocluster, a nanolayer and a quantum well.  
     
     
         45 . The device of    claim 43    comprising an optical cavity, wherein the catalyst is located in the optical cavity and wherein the optical cavity is tuned to a frequency of an excited state species within the cavity.  
     
     
         46 . The device of    claim 43   , wherein the optical cavity has multiple frequencies that are tuned to overtones of the specie frequencies and wherein the optical cavity stimulates overtone transitions.  
     
     
         47 . The device of    claim 46   , wherein the optical cavity is a Fabrey-Perot cavity.  
     
     
         48 . The device of    claim 45    comprising an optical oscillator for stimulating emissions in the optical cavity.  
     
     
         49 . The device of    claim 43   , wherein the catalyst includes at least one of an island, nanocluster, quantum well cluster and a quantum dot and the substrate includes a plurality of substrates arranged in a stack, thereby forming a catalyst-substrate stack, wherein the catalyst-substrate stack is tuned to at least one of a frequency or overtone thereof of the radiation.  
     
     
         50 . The device of    claim 43   , comprising cooling means for cooling the photovoltaic converter.  
     
     
         51 . The method of    claim 4    comprising storing the electrical energy in at least one of a capacitor, a super-capacitor and a battery.  
     
     
         52 . The device of    claim 11    comprising an electrical storage device, the electrical storage device being coupled to the substrate diode, wherein the electrical storage device includes at least one of a capacitor, a super-capacitor and a battery.  
     
     
         53 . The device of    claim 38    comprising: 
 electrical contacts, the electrical contacts being arranged on the piezoelectric element, wherein the electrical potential appears at the electrical contacts; and  
 an electrical storage device, the electrical storage device being coupled to the electrical contacts, wherein the electrical storage device includes at least one of a capacitor, a super-capacitor and a battery.  
 
     
     
         54 . The device of    claim 43    comprising an electrical storage device, the electrical storage device being coupled to the photovoltaic converter, wherein the electrical storage device includes at least one of a capacitor, a super-capacitor and a battery.