March 18, 2020
TomKat Center for Renewable Energy at Stanford University:
Antora Energy’s technology stores electricity as heat in extremely inexpensive raw materials and uses a novel thermophotovoltaic heat engine to convert that heat back to electricity when consumers need it, hours, days, or weeks later.
The startup, led by Stanford University alumni Andrew Ponec, BS ’17, and Justin Briggs, Ph.D. ’17, and MIT alumnus David Bierman, Ph.D. ’17, has recently demonstrated the world’s most efficient solid state heat engine, topping the performance of all previous thermophotovoltaic, thermionic, and thermoelectric devices.
This breakthrough is a key enabler for Antora’s energy storage technology, and also opens up numerous other applications ranging from industrial waste heat recovery to flexible carbon capture, utilization, and storage.
