Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.18686/cest800

Publication Title

Clean Energy Science and Technology

Volume

4

Issue

4

Pages

800 (36 pp.)

Abstract

This article highlights “Type-B energy technology” isothermally utilizing environmental heat energy to generate electricity, showing its: a) basic system designs, b) equations, c) calculations, d) experimental measurements, and e) live experimental demonstrations, for an asymmetric function-gated electricity generator system comprising an exceptionally low electron-work-function surface as an electron emitter and a space gap that permits the isothermally emitted electrons to travel ballistically to a collector. The equations, calculations, experimental measurements, and live experimental demonstrations showed that the type-B energy technology can utilize the limitless environmental heat energy to generate electricity without requiring any temperature gradient as long as the electron-work function of the emitter is substantially lower than that of the collector. Using a pair of an exceptionally low electron-work-function (0.70 eV) emitter and a high work function (4.6 eV) collector at 298 K, its electricity production density could be . Its capability to ceaselessly forever power many electronic devices such as mobile phones and AI machines has paramount scientific and practical implications to help “ultimately liberate all peoples from their dependence on fossil fuel energy, thus helping to reduce greenhouse gas CO₂ emissions and control climate change” towards a common shared sustainable future for humanity on Earth.

Rights

© 2026 Authors.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.

Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during the study are included in this article and in the Supplementary Materials (The video of Lee live experimental demonstrations DOI 10.5281/zenodo.16543210 is now deposited at Zenodo.org for public access: https://zenodo.org/records/16543210) and cited references.

Original Publication Citation

Lee, J. W. (2026). Asymmetric-function-gated utilization of environmental heat energy to produce electricity without requiring a temperature gradient: A Type-B energy technology. Clean Energy Science and Technology, 4(4), Article 800. https://doi.org/10.18686/cest800

ORCID

0000-0003-2525-5870 (Lee)

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