Pyroelectric detection device, comprising at least: a suspended membrane; a pyroelectric detection element located on the suspended membrane and comprising at least one portion of pyroelectric material located between first and second electrodes, the first electrode being located between said at least one portion of pyroelectric material and the suspended membrane; and in which the membrane and the pyroelectric detection element are subjected to a higher compression stress than a limiting buckling stress of the suspended membrane and the pyroelectric detection element and together form a bistable structure.

A metasurface integrated microbolometer having a sensing layer (e.g., Si.sub.xGe.sub.yO.sub.1-x-y). The presence of the metasurface provides selectivity with respect to wavelength, polarization and angle-of-incidence. The presence of the metasurface into the microbolometer affects conversion of electromagnetic to thermal energy, thermal response, electrical integration of the microbolometer, and the tradeoff between resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistance, thereby allowing the ability to obtain a sensing with high temperature coefficient of resistance with lower resistivity values than that of films without the metasurface. The presence of the metasurface removes the need for a Fabry-Perot cavity.

A sensor or receiver array includes first and second pyroelectrically active electrodes formed of polyvinylidene difluoride and separated by a spacer layer that acts to electrically separate the pyroelectric layers while keeping them close enough such that they see effectively the same vibration or background acoustic excitation while maintaining sufficient separation to ensure that they generate significant differences in their pyroelectric responses. The structure provides two distinct signals (at separate timestamps), the difference between which provides a more accurate signal. An ultrasound detection system includes the tri-laminar sensor, disposed within a detection zone in which a test element can be positioned. The apparatus includes a processing unit, which comprises a detector unit coupled to the first and second pyroelectric elements and configured to derive a differential signal from the first and second pyroelectric elements. A processor is coupled to the detector unit and is configured to generate an electrical output waveform on the basis of the data extracted from first and second pyroelectric elements.

An electrocaloric element for a heat transfer system includes an electrocaloric material of a copolymer of (i) vinylidene fluoride, and (ii) an addition polymerization monomer that is larger than vinylidene fluoride and includes a substituent more electronegative than chlorine. Electrodes are disposed on opposite surfaces of the electrocaloric material, and an electric power source is configured to provide voltage to the electrodes. The system also includes a first thermal flow path between the electrocaloric material and a heat sink, and a second thermal flow path between the electrocaloric material and a heat source.

A pyroelectric generator may be included in the same semiconductor device as a radio frequency (RF) switch (e.g., a phase-change material (PCM) RF switch and/or other types of RF switch). The pyroelectric generator includes a pyroelectric material layer between two electrodes. The pyroelectric generator is configured to scavenge thermal energy that is generated during the operation of the RF switch, and to convert the thermal energy into electrical energy that may be stored and reused.

Disclosed is a plurality of metal chalcogenide nanocrystals coated with multiple organic and inorganic ligands; wherein the metal is selected from Hg, Pb, Sn, Cd, Bi, Sb or a mixture thereof; and the chalcogen is selected from S, Se, Te or a mixture thereof; wherein the multiple inorganic ligands includes at least one inorganic ligands are selected from S.sup.2, HS.sup., Se.sup.2, Te.sup.2, OH.sup., BF.sub.4.sup., PF.sub.6.sup., Cl.sup., Br.sup., I.sup., As.sub.2Se.sub.3, Sb.sub.2S.sub.3, Sb.sub.2Te.sub.3, Sb.sub.2Se.sub.3, As.sub.2S.sub.3 or a mixture thereof; and wherein the absorption of the CH bonds of the organic ligands relative to the absorption of metal chalcogenide nanocrystals is lower than 50%, preferably lower than 20%.

A solid-state heat transporting device including a heat transporting element whose uniformity of contact with one or multiple surfaces is controllable so that various amounts of heat may be transported to and from the one or multiple surfaces. The heat transporting element uses the electrocaloric effect to absorb and release the heat and the uniformity of contact is controlled using an electrostatic effect which may change the shape of the heat transporting element. In one embodiment, the heat transporting element is an electrostatically actuated P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) polymer stack achieving a high specific cooling power of 2.8 W/g and a COP of 13 (the highest reported coefficient of performance to date) when used as a cooling device.

Compositions, and methods of obtaining them, useful for lithium ion batteries comprising discrete oxidized carbon nanotubes having attached to their surface lithium ion active materials in the form of nanometer sized crystals or layers. The composition can further comprise graphene or oxygenated graphene.

Various embodiments disclosed relate to unsaturated polymers that exhibit electrocaloric properties. The polymers can be useful as heat transfer materials in heating and cooling applications.

A method of preparation of focal plane arrays of infrared bolometers includes processing carbon nanotubes to increase a temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR), followed by patterning to form focal plane arrays for infrared imaging.