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I understand that solar panels generate electricity by converting photons from sunlight. This made me wonder whether it would be possible to use other types of cosmic radiation, such as muons, to generate electricity.

Muons have higher energy than photons and can penetrate underground, so in principle, they could allow for power generation in locations not exposed to sunlight.

I think someone might have thought about this idea before, so there might be some reason why such technology has not developed, therefore here is my question

Are there physical reasons why muons are not used for electricity generation?

Is there any concept that could make this idea work?

(I couldn't find any papers in ScienceDirect discuss about this topic, so if you know any, please suggest them)

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    $\begingroup$ Have you contrasted the flux of sunlight to that of cosmic muons? $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 19 at 11:15
  • $\begingroup$ @CosmasZachos Oh, I see that muons have a much lower flux compared to photons. Besides that, I curious how could we try to use muons as a source of energy? I will think about it. Thank you for reminding me! $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 19 at 11:28
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    $\begingroup$ Low power density of the cosmic rays is the main reason it is not practical (and thank goodness for that - high intensity radiation is bad for health). You can harvest energy from ionising radiation - one way is to use a PN junction, just as solar panels do. ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaic_device ) $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 19 at 11:57
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    $\begingroup$ Fortunately the muon flux is low enough to not kill us all. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 19 at 17:24

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In principle, yes, it is possible but it's not worth it.

From [1] the flux of muons reaching sea level is $$F_n \approx 100 \ m^{-2}s^{-1}$$ Multiply for the average energy $E \approx 4 \ GeV$ and you obtain a rough estimate for the energy flux: $$F_E = E \cdot F \approx 400 \ \frac{GeV}{m^{2} s} \approx 6 \cdot 10^{-8} \ \frac{J}{s m^2} $$

Now assume a $1 \cdot m^2$ muon panel with $100\%$ efficiency in converting this flux to energy (very irrealistic), you would obtain a power of: $$P_{\mu} \approx 6 \cdot 10^{-8} \ W$$

This means that to power an average microwave oven ($P_{oven} = 600 W$) you would need an area of $10^{10} \ m^2 = 10000 \ km^2$ to put in perspective, it is $5$ times the area of Tokyo.

References: [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168900218307599

Edit: I missed a factor ten in the computations

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