Industrial design generation from optimization of films with glycoprotein matrices and nanoparticles overlaying and over photovoltaic devices for electricity generation from radioactive waste sources

• Grant number: 23/02960-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Camila Maria Longo Machado
• Grantee: Camila Maria Longo Machado
• Company: I.rad.particles Inova Simples (IS)
• CNAE: Fabricação de produtos diversos não especificados anteriormente ; Geração de energia elétrica
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/00736-1 - Industrial design generation from optimization of films with glycoprotein matrices and nanoparticles overlaying and over photovoltaic devices for electricity generation from radioactive waste sources, BP.PIPE

Abstract

Electric power generation is one of the challenges for humanity in the next millennium. Today, electricity on a large scale alters weather conditions. The old power plants that use radiation to generate electricity have a weak point, despite being less polluting, the radioactive waste. Thus, it is extremely valuable to have alternative technologies that can address this weakness and that are still independent of storage, which differs from current wind, solar, or any thermic irradiation. Russian scientist Pavel Cherenkov visualized a faint blue light when he placed a solution of sulfuric acid over radioactive radium salts in 1934. This light emitted when radioactive particles transit in any medium, faster than the speed of light, received the name of Luz Cherenkov (from the English, Cherenkov light or CL, in Portuguese, LC). On a small scale, Prof. Grimm demonstrated that radioisotopes in organic material containing nanoparticles (NP) (1) emit light in two wavelength ranges of visible light. (2) In 3D structure, the organic matrix containing NP, the re-emitted LC is amplified up to 100 times. (3) Since the specific amount and distribution of NPs intensify the luminosity and generate a secondary peak for the generation of visible light. LC emission is quite common in solid waste such as those generated from thermonuclear power plants and lasts from hours to decades. The challenge of the project is the reproduction of these preliminary experiments, in centimetric conditions, but adapting the previous conditions to a configuration containing planar photovoltaic cells with an external quantum efficiency close to 100% in the spectrum from 400 to 750 nm. From this, together with the company Solid, customize a model on a larger scale to obtain a minimum viable product and the sale and licensing to a company that produces the devices. For this, the (1) production of slides of protein matrices containing NP in different combinations in quantity, arrangements and sizes will be done here to optimize a prototype that generates the maximum amount of light allowed per space, which when in contact with radiation will generate light that captured by a specific solar cell will generate electricity. At the end of 9 months, the process will be optimized for generating electricity from LC present in radioactive sources. This technology is innovative, as it will allow the re-signification of radioactive waste (e.g., 233U), already stored in the world in facilities for constant electricity generation. (AU)