Harvesting Energy from the Cold Universe. The missing piece in the renewables puzzle.

Project ID: 2531bd1662

(You will need this ID for your application)

Research Theme: Energy and Decarbonisation

Research Area(s): light, optics, photonics
sustainability, renewable energy, net zero
materials for energy application

UCL Lead department: Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE)

Department Website

Lead Supervisor: Ioannis Papakonstantinou

Project Summary:

On a bright, warm day, the world’s 1 terawatt of solar power capacity tirelessly lights our homes, charges our cars, powers industries, and sustains modern life. This remarkable achievement is the result of more than 60 years of progress in photovoltaics, which convert incoming sunlight into usable energy.

But sunlight is only half the story. To remain in balance, Earth must radiate heat back into space at a rate roughly equal to the power it receives from the Sun. This natural thermoregulation process, known as radiative cooling, taps into the infinite cold of the Universe to dissipate excess heat into outer space. The scale is extraordinary: an estimated 10^17 watts of thermal radiation flow outward from Earth, representing a vast, untapped renewable energy source able to cover all humanity needs many times over.

Yet today’s devices capture only a fraction of this potential. Unlocking it requires inventing an entirely new generation of mid-infrared (MIR) photonic components, including:

• Spectrally and directionally selective MIR emitters
• MIR Metasurfaces to split, collimate, and focus thermal radiation
• Advanced MIR receivers to efficiently convert heat into usable energy
• Non-reciprocal photonic systems that break conventional limits to approach thermodynamic efficiency

The goal of this PhD is to design, fabricate and test these tools, laying the foundation for scalable technologies that can integrate seamlessly with existing solar infrastructure.

We welcome applicants from a wide range of disciplines including physics, optics, materials science, chemistry, mathematics, electronic, chemical, mechanical engineering or other relevant STEM discipline. Prior experience is not required; what matters is curiosity, creativity, and the drive to explore new frontiers!

The successful candidate will join the photonic innovations lab one of Europe’s leading teams in radiative cooling, supported by multiple industrial partners and grants, including a recently awarded European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant.